The End...Perhaps.  You may have noticed that I have not posted for a while.  I have decided to stop blogging for a while.  For my 2 readers, I apologize.  At Microsoft, we constantly are doing self-reviews in addition to our yearly and mid-year review.  I have also tried doing this in daily life outside of the Borg.  I realized that I am not doing with my blog what I had originally planned.  Also, one of my goals for the year was to simplify.  So I have decided to simplify things by stopping the blog for now (among other things).  I have quite a few things going on right now so this is a good time for me to take a break.  My hope is that I will come back and really provide interesting communication with you. So take the time you took to read my blog and read some of the other great blogs out there and will hope to come back to the blog world when the time is right.  
11:34:15 AM    

Red, red wine...  Glad to see Scoble on board with our wines here in Washington.  I was a "wine in a box" kind of guy in college and didn't really pay too much attention to it following.  But when I started working for a boss who was knowledgeable about wine I tried to learn more (My boss once came to a customer dinner after I had already ordered the wine and he looked at my choices and said "Does anyone mind if I order more wine?").  Now, I am very much into it.  But I am not some collector who has 500+ bottles nor willing to pay big bucks for wine.  I have two wine racks that hold 10 each, one is for the good stuff and the other is my everyday drinking wines.  More than likely you are going to find Washington wines in my collection as I really like most that I drink.  I am a member of Chateau St. Michelle Winery's wine club so I have quite a few of their reds and one of their ice wines.  But what I enjoy finding are those rare $10 or less wines that are just as good as the $40 wines. 

I tried the $3 buck Chuck at Trader Joe's this weekend. Not bad for $3. 

2:01:47 PM    

New Look and Feel.  Thought it was time for a new look and feel of the blog.  Hope you enjoy.

10:31:58 AM    

ASP.NET Web Matrix, Reloaded.  The latest version (0.6) of the ASP.NET Web Matrix has been unleashed from Microsoft.  It is described as: ASP.NET Web Matrix is a community-supported, easy-to-use WYSIWYG application development tool for ASP.NET. It can be installed via a quick 1.3 MB download (about 5 minutes using a 56Kb modem). New features include: Access database support, J# support, design time enhancements including improved table editing and user-control rendering, many bug fixes, and much more! Best of all? It's absolutely free! 

This is a great developer tool to build ASP.NET applications.  It isn't Visual Studio .NET so don't expect all the great stuff in VS.NET like Intellisense, Server Explorer, etc.  But it is a good tool to use if you are learning ASP.NET or on a budget.  It is easy to install and you can get up and running quickly. 

10:13:47 AM    

Inkblog and the B-52's.  David Weller mentions the B-52's.  I really love the B-52's.  I remember my first Saturday Night Live and they were the musical guest.  I thought they were crazy and loved how they were not the typical band.  I started out with their Cosmic Thing (you know "Love Shack Baby!") and really got into them later with Time Capsule.  About 4 years ago Microsoft actually had them perform at an internal conference which I was front row for.  Also, I went to see them last year at the Chateau St. Michelle Winery and they rocked!  So David Weller has upped his cool factor by a couple points.
9:13:44 AM    

If You Sent Me Mail From This Blog....

For some reason, Hotmail decided to deactivate my account.  So if you sent me e-mail and I did not respond to you, please resend.

10:49:21 PM    

Where's My Member's Only Jacket?

My significant other just got Living in Oblivion - The 80's Greatest Hits Volume 2 and I immediately threw it in the computer and am currently listening to Only The Lonely by The Motels.  Sweet. 

For those of you who did not know, along with being a thrash fan I am a BIG FAN of 80's music.  Primarily the stuff from MTV's first years...and yes, I do currently own a pair of checkerboard shoes that I wear on the weekends to embarass the s.o.

Currently listening to Destination Unknown by the Missing Persons.  Life is good!

 

10:46:08 PM    

Obligatory TechEd Blog Entry

I was there...it was good.  I'll let the other 300 blogs out there tell you what happened. 

Sidethought: how many of you have virtually attended conferences through blogs?  It is interesting, there have been a couple of conferences I could not attend but was able to get the "vibe" and some of the content via blogs I read about the conference.  Let me know conferences you have "blogattended".

 

10:45:35 PM    

Christmas Comes Early

While sitting in Rob Howard's office today, he gave me a copy of a book he co-authored with Steven A. Smith called ASP.NET Developer's Cookbook which is similar to the PHP Developer's Cookbook.  It is great for those times when you want to just know how to do something such as finding a node in an XML document or generating a class using the CodeDOM using ASP.NET.

10:34:34 PM    

It's Been A While

All 3 of my readers may be wondering what happened to me as you have not heard from me in a while.  There is quite a bit going on right now.  I am transitioning into an ASP.NET Evangelist while finishing up TechEd and in the zone for our internal Microsoft conference for the Field offices around the world.  I also am managing our internal site for the team using the new version of Windows Sharepoint Services.  So things are quite busy.  In fact, I had to turn down an offer to do something VERY COOL today because I just couldn't put anything else on the plate.  I was bummed because I enjoy putting together awesome demos.  I am like the cheerleaders on Saturday Night Live.  "You know what the developers need...you guessed it...THE PERFECT DEMO!"  :)

10:25:57 PM    

Check it out!

Nikhil Kothari has a blog.  So you may be saying, big deal..so what..who cares another Microsoftie spoutin' off about somethin.  Well, here is why he is on my navigator list to the right:

1. He is a Microsoftie on the ASP.NET team, one of the best development teams at Microsoft and an awesome technology.
2. He is showing sneak previews of the new Web Matrix.
3. The site is very pleasant to look at and is written with the Web Matrix.

Also, since I just recently became an Evangelist for the next version of ASP.NET, I am totally stoked!  So you will probably be hearing more about the greatness that is ASP.NET!

If you got ideas of how to make ASP.NET a better technology, click on that little envelope below or post a comment and let me know what we can do to make it better.

4:20:44 PM    

Matrix, Reviewed

Not going to spend too much time on this since you can read 1,000's of blog reviews on the movie.  Basically I was pulled into two directions - one was that "effects over story" drove the movie, the other direction was "I think I am supposed to know something prior to understand that."  But since it was a free ticket and got a $10 gift certificate for popcorn & soda I have no complaints!

4:09:45 PM    

Yet Another Matrix Blog Entry

Last week every theater in the Redmond area was filled with Microsoft geeks watching the Matrix.  Tomorrow, I will get to see the Matrix with my team.  I am glad I have been hearing not so good reviews as my expectation will be low so I should be able to come out in the end without disappointment.

I am interested in seeing previews.  You gotta understand, I don't see movies very often so when I do it is a treat and I love my previews.  I actually get bummed out if I show up late and miss them.  So I am hoping to see some interesting previews tomorrow.  Unfortunately I am impatient so I will probably not see the special preview after the end of the credits.

11:11:07 PM    

Confession

I am getting older.  I am beginning to come to grips with it.  I noticed tonight that there is going to be an "American Junior" reality TV show which I guess is a knock-off of American Idol.  I just shook my head and said "spare" which is ticket-speak for lame.  I then began thinking about reality TV in general and realized that I have quit watching much of the reality TV shows I once did.  No more Real World, Sorority Life, Road Rules, Survivor, etc.  I am actually a big fan of Law & Order Criminal Intent and Law & Order SVU and even Law & Order Crime & Punishment.  What is scary is that Law & Order is the type of show my parents would watch.

I think Reality TV is here to stay, I bet though that someone will come up with the concept of "a Reality TV show that isn't a Reality TV show".  Turn off the television and watch VBTV instead.

11:01:37 PM