I have been given a new opportunity at Microsoft, for the last three years I have had the position of Developer Evangelist. In that role, I have had the opportunity to work with all the Microsoft focused user groups in Southern California. This has allowed me to work with some of the most local, community-focused people I have had the privilege to know. This was a perfect fit for me as I had been active in running user groups for almost 20 years. As a Developer Evangelist, I also was able to represent Microsoft at events where the attendees were not always the most positive (and often quite hostile) about Microsoft. This included events like JavaOne, OSCON, various BarCamps and many other. I enjoyed each of these engagements, and while I hope I encouraged Microsoft sceptics to have a more open mind to Microsoft, I know that I learned a lot about the startups, entrepreneurs & angel\venture investors. In the past, I have started a product company, two service companies and worked at a product startup but I had never needed to or been able to get involved into the angel\venture investor side of being in a startup. This made the last few years quite interesting and educational.

With the new job I have moved into the Western Region Developer Platform & Evangelism Strategy Team where I will be managed by the only person that objected to me being hired at Microsoft, but I think he is over it now :). The new position will let me work full time with startups, entrepreneurs & investors. I will get to help startups implement or integrate with Microsoft products and services. Once I do what I do, others on my new team will work with the startups to create white papers and case studies that will be used to help produce PR for the startups as well as Microsoft. I don’t know all of the details of my new position, I have a team meeting next week where I will learn more about the job, but I am looking forward to this new opportunity.

The only bummer is that now I will not get to go to Hawaii a few times a year.

Anyone who has ever gotten a ride from me in my car knows a few key things about me:

1. I am a slob!
   • I can't stand to clean my car and it's a wreck inside and out!
2. I love Public Radio

So I was shocked today to be in the car today and hear a show I had never heard before (ok maybe I just never noticed it before). It is called Radio Lab from WNYC, what got my attention was that were doing a story on Lying to Ourselves and the researchers in the story concluded that people who lie to themselfs are happier. The story was entertaining and the conduction sounded way too plausible it's an interesting show and now I know way I am doomed to my fate I am just too damn honest with myself. I guess there are worse things! ;)

This weekend I went on the last on the years Indian Guide camp out and while it all sounds corny it's a great program and always a good time with my Son Max. One of the long staining traditions for the last camp out is to have a "chariot" race where the boys pull the chef of the tribe. Well this year I was the chef and the boys pulled but the chariot did not hold up to my fat a@@. You can see the picture below where I earned the award for best face plant! But even with this Max and I had a great time! :)

 

I know that when you say Global Warming you are told to think science but once you try to use the  scientific method to any of the environmental data you will get socially smacked down by the intelligence. At last someone has done some good coverage on the topic but don't think we will ever see it here in the US. Thanks to the Internet you too can see this information your self go to the Channel 4 web site about The Great Global Warming Swindle and then go to Google video for the full show.

The next time you see a Gore love fest like the one at the Academy Awards this year go watch this and then think except for life style how open mined Hollywood really is.

Dang I got tagged... What is it with this tagging stuff? Don't get me wrong I do like getting the cross traffic but still how much honesty do people expect? Well stand by!

I do have to say I am like my buddy Tim and have never moved a chain letter forward and will not be tagging anyone else sorry.

1. I am extremely dyslexic this has been something that causes extreme difficulties for me so please excuse all the bad spelling on this blog.
2. I never wanted to me married or have kids... I have now been extremely happily married for 17 years (in March) and have 2 boys that I am downright goofy about.
   • By the way my wife never reads my blog so I am not just staying this.
3. I don't much like crowds, I think it is a side effect of being so single tracked and not being able to keep track of everything.
4. Working for a huge company is hard for me.
   • I worked for my own company or small firms for so long that the big company thing is quite hard for me but so far the job is interesting enough to keep me going. Do some reading of Mini-Microsoft to understand some of the issues but Mini-Microsoft works in Redmond there are more issues bout working in the field.
5. I still love to make a computer do what I want, that is why I fell in love with programming when I was 12 years old with a TRS 80 16k color computer.

Eileen thanks for the tag, sorry I am not passing it along.

OK this blog is mostly about boring tech stuff but I am working late and a friend IMed me a link for a video from a show call "Balls of Steel" from the UK. All I can say is wow I want this show here!

 

OK I am going to be a bit inappropriate here...

Jason Mauer took this picture of me pointing to a massive pile of beans as I was saying what to I care I am in Portland and my wife is back home so... beans beans :)

I did my semi-regular cooking job at the San Diego Stand Down... Ok so it was my second time in five years but I am resolving to do it every year that I can from now on. What is Stand Down? Read all about it here http://www.vvsd.net/standdown.htm.

I am not much of a bleeding hart but I know it is all too easy for anyone to fall in to a bad place and I think some times for people who are in the military it can be especially easy. So I did my little part by helping to feed 1300+ lunches and 800+ dinners on Friday, working for over 12 hours and suffering a horrible sunburn (especially bad as my wife yelled at me as I was leaving the house to put on sunscreen). I did this with the local American Legion (yes I am a member) and a bunch of people who have been doing this for almost as long as this event has been going on. I find it quite strange how many people on one of the hottest weekends of the year still came out to help with this event (did I menchen I am not much of a bleeding hart?). As you can see from the photos below there was everything setup that someone would need to start down a better path.

All in all this was quite executing but I felt good about helping out in my little way and in a strange way I look forward to next year.

An overview of the whole thing (from there web site)	This was a panoramic I took of the main part of the grounds
The (not so well shaded) galley.	The food line before attacked
The back side of the tents
The glamour Job...	Cutting the meatloaf
Hair cut anyone?	Court will be in session... Quite Please.
Some fun for the kids too	Some wet fun too

 

I drive a 1996 or 97 Toyota Camry, it's beat up (am not easy on cars) it sinks as the kids have spilled milk in it but just look what it did...

Yep the old thing just passed 150000 miles (I was diving when the odometer hi 150000 so I did the safe thing and waited to take this picture) I just love this car it is still running great and has been quite low maintance over all. I want a new car but I just can't do it while this one is working so well.

Just wanted to brag... :)

I am sorry for anyone who dose not care but I want to explain while I will be flaky for the next few days. Yesterday as I was leaving the office I got a call from my wife that the house had been broken in to some time during the day. Wow what crapy thing, everyone is OK and that is the most important thing but now I will get to deal with all the crap around this event. They got my wife's laptop all of her jewelry which most of is family related, they may have gotten some other small things but nothing much. It was a grab what is easy to grab and run type of thing, they missed so much that I feel lucky! They had all the time they wanted to do what they wanted.

Any way I will end my winning now but I hop you all have good locks and keep you stuff out of site and locked up if you can.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1329362959167995041

I recently did a one day talk on the topic of what’s new in Visual Studio 2005 covering .NET framework, ADO.NET and Winform changes. I did not cover ASP.NET as that was getting covered the next day for the same audience. I have gotten some requests for the slide deck I used so I wanted to post it where anyone could get it. This is not the exact deck I used as that deck was in a VPC that I did not save but this is close.

What’s new in Visual Studio 2005

I have setup a new hosting account with webhost4life turns out ehostimgbiz who I have happily hosted with for years has gone out if business but they were just a reseller for webhost4life so while my account will not move this site may see some temporally hick ups.

webhost4life has the same deal that ehostingbiz did in that if people sign up using my referral ID then I will get some credit that I can use to pay for my site so if you need a hoster and webhost4life looks like a good deal this link LINK will sign you up while giving me credit if not use this link LINK and you can sign up with no one getting credit.

OK for me this is a bit out there but I just needed to share Don’t Ever get this drunk!

I have been quite busy of late with lot’s of little trips a tone of local community events customer meetings and the normal never ending email but it’s all good! There is a ton of great people out there really interested in .NET and that is what I am all about. I recently got to do a presentation on Team Systems to the new group Santa Barbara . NET User Group, it was a good interactive group and it looks to be a great group. I have also been doing a bunch of work for the upcoming SoCal Code Camp where we are now taking requests to speak so if you want to talk to geeks go sing-up!

The biggest surprise was that I was contact by a guy up close to Fresno about starting a .NET user group up there he has a web site up at centralcaldotnet.com so if you know anyone in the central vally let them know and look back for details here and on there site.

OK the web is killing me! There is so much good information out there! No not much good stuff on the normal places (yahoo, msn etc) but one that I have been lurking on quite abut is http://www.makezine.com/. Phillip Torrone now has his blog there and all I can say is wow! Phillip is the Martha Stuart of the geek world, with way too much time on his hands and a creative mind. I only wish I had any time to replicate his projects. I just subscribed to MAKE Magazine as well just so I could have more envy of people who have the time to do fun projects.

I am looking at moving this blog to a different platform most likely das blog. My buddy David McCarter has a das blog site up and running and that is why I am looking at das blog.

Well for my two readers out there I have some huge news… I am leaving my current job at InterKnowlogy for a job with Microsoft! WOW that is correct MR politically incorrect is going to work for Microsoft. Yes I do see some changes happening in my life due to this.

• I am going to take some time off teaching at UCSD until I settle in to my new job
• I am going to take less of an active roll in the San Diego .NET Developers Group
• I am going to get my car tuned up (there will be a lot of driving in this position)
• I am going to work in my political skills ;)
• I am going to enjoy a new challenge

So you may ask… What are you going to do for Microsoft? Are you moving to Redmond? Who did they hold hostage to get you to take the job?

Well I am going to be a Developer Evangelist for the US West Region Developer and Platform Evangelism Team. No there is no white tents involved this is the full job description:

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Are you passionate and pumped to engage the developer community?

The US West Region Developer and Platform Evangelism (D&PE) Team has an immediate opening for a dynamic Developer Evangelist (DE) located in Southern California.

The D&PE Team’s mission is to secure platform adoption and revenue growth through evangelism, community engagement, direct interaction with local influential software developers, intelligent audience marketing and a vibrant solutions ecosystem.

The DE is a technical role with the mission of engaging the broad community of developers in the region and driving excitement around developer related tools.

Specific responsibilities include:
• Increasing satisfaction with Microsoft and Microsoft tools in the developer community by partnering with local, influential software developers
• Delivering persuasive and passionate, high impact, high quality, presentations on site with customers and partners, and at industry events and developer communities
• Driving Broad Customer Connection programs in the region and local geographies
• Engaging and fostering third party and non-Microsoft technology focused communities and influencers
• Participating actively in the developer community through web logs, newsletters, videos, forums, newsgroups, websites and events
• Researching and analyzing specific technologies and industries as well as feedback from the developer community
• Developing and executing on strategy around non-Microsoft developer tools, languages and platforms
• Communicating and building relationships with large corporate customers, Account Executives, and additional sales professionals that work within the Microsoft virtual team environment.

A solid technical background and development experience is required, among the technology skills we are looking for are:
• Demonstrated development hands-on experience using the current Windows platform (Client and Server), the .NET Framework and Visual Studio, and other Microsoft technologies such as SQL Server, Connected Systems, Smart Clients, Office and Next Generation Business Solutions. Knowledge of one or more Microsoft languages is preferred
• Demonstrated development hands-on experience using non-Microsoft technologies E.g. Linux, Open Source development, Eclipse, Java/J2EE (Websphere, BEA), web development (PHP, Flex/Flash)
• Experience writing and testing secure code is preferred
• Experience with or knowledge of future Microsoft developer technologies a plus.
• Preferred qualifications include Computer Science/Engineering or related discipline, 7-10+ years of developer qualifications

To be successful, the following skills are required:
• Excellent oral and written communication, presentation, and analytical skills
• A blend of passion, optimism, customer advocacy, curiosity and creativity
• A team player and excellent at cross-group collaboration
• Knowledge of technology trends, industry participants and leaders
• Methodical and organized; able to manage multiple opportunities, projects, and relationships concurrently
• Desirable additional skills include PR or media experience
• The ability to show a past track record of involvement in the local developer community.
• The experience and continued Passion to be a pioneer in the developer community
• The ability to clearly articulate ideas and gain trust in contentious environments

This description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this position. The actual duties, responsibilities, and qualifications may vary based on assignments. Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer, we support workplace diversity

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My guess is that if you know me that is a decent fit for me, I don’t have much non Microsoft experience but I will be aggressively going after some information including classes etc.

No I will not have to move to Redmond, which is good as I am not sure my wife would come with me… No for now we don’t want to move our boys away from there extended family.

And no, no one was held hostage, I have wanted to work for MS for a long time but as I did not take a job with the VB team in the early 90s like I should have I had to get what I could.

I will be leaving a great company and a cool project but I think for me this is the correct time and I hope I have handled me leaving as well as possible so as to do no harm and not to burn any bridges. I have loved my time at IK and will remain in close contact with the people at IK and have nothing but phrase for it and them, if you are looking for a great group of people to be associated as an employee or a customer do give them a look.

Via engadget.com this scary story Snooping by satellite | CNET News.com not that I care but I just happen to be thinking tonight on the way home that George Orwell was 20 years off with 1984. Gee thanks Bush I feel so much more secure.

I know the argument if you don’t do any thing wrong then why should you object? Because it a slippery slope!

OK I know this seams strange but I am not a “sports” fan at all! But I do like just about any sport live, at a venue and enjoyed with friends. My company gets Chargers tickets each year and if the tickets can’t be used for “sales” purposes  then they go up for grabs for us in the company. I had the tickets for Sep 19th (my birthday) but something came-up and I could not go but I was lucky and got the last regular season tickets.

It was a fun game but I think American football needs to take a page from English football (that is soccer to us yanks). When I was working in England a while back I was extremely fortunate to get to go to two Newcastle United games. My relatives (really Sam's) have season tickets that include access to a suite or club that has a buffet and a bar staff so before the game you sit, eat and drink (a lot) with a large group then before you go out to the game you fill in a drink order for half time. After the gave they serve desert, coffee and more drink! It is a blast and the perfect way to see a game, as much fun as tailgating is here this was more fun!

So any way I just made a simple post more in depth then needed but well I guess that is what this space is for. Here are some pictures of my son and his buddy before and after the Chargers game.

Before the game we did some real tailgating

99% of my family computer support questions are now related to Spyware! There is no 100% fix but I have found a good resource for removing bad things from you computer. The site is TomCoyote.com I have yet to clean system with the advice and tools there but I am sure I will next time I need to.

I for the first time saw the PBS show Tucker Carlson: Unfiltered after seeing Carlson be so unreasonable with Jon Stewart if you did did not see it look at the ifilms clip. Carlson is just a joke that has too much makeup on and can't see that he may not know what is going on in the world that he reports to report on.

And the press as a whole can see why they get the label of "The Liberal Media". The truly said thing is that PBS gives this guy a platform!

Starts off slow but just wait....

http://www.hugi.is/hahradi/bigboxes.php?box_id=51208&f_id=1000

I recently got a cool Verizon wireless card so I can be connected any where (I am not sure I want to be but hey I am a geek) when I first installed I was running Windows 2003 Server on my Compaq Evo laptop (yes a server on a laptop... did I say I was a geek) any to make a sort story long the software was not supported and when I did go ahead and install it boom my network stack was corrupt and un-installing it did not fix it.

I decided to rebuild my box this time back to XP so I could test Service Pack 2 for XP. OK fun part of this was that this was over a weekend that I had committed to build a httpModule for my current customer to fix a MAC client issue that was caused by .NETs more accurate compliance of http standards (yes I talked them in to going from an asp\vb 6 component to a .NET component and boom stuff stops working) but it was that all along the MAC client had been sending a malformed request. So the httpModule just rearranges the few bytes that are misplaced and boom now the MAC client works as it should with no code change to the main .NET component... sweet. But I digress so now I have a XP system with SP2 and yes the new wireless card works no problem. It is not as fast as I though it would be but it's much better then not beefing connected at all.

There is one thing I have done and I am not happy to admit it but I have stopped running as a user I am back to running as a local administrator. There were so many problems with software that I run quite often that just made it too much of a pain in the a@@. Example is Winamp I don't get that what the heck does Winamp need to wright to it's main directory? Well running as a user is a great thing for security reasons and there are ways around all the issues I ran in to but it was just painful and what can I say I am just lazy.

Any way I am back to blogging again... we will see how long this will last.

Now playing: Dido - Don't Leave Home