I just realized that the box sitting in the corner of my office which came while I was out west was filled with copies of the Mar/April 2005 issue of Code Magazine. EPS is kind enough to send issues to Vermont.NET. (We also get mags from ASPNetPro)

In this issue is my first .NET article that has been printed on paper - not just online. I did have a few FoxPro articles in FoxPro advisor many years ago.

The article is "Creating Debugger Visualizers with Visual Studio 2005" a very cool and underplayed feature in the next version of VS.NET. You may have noticed that I have written quite a few blog posts on this topic in the past so it was fun to formalize it as well as to update it for some of the nice changes that were made as of the November CTP bits.

The article has all samples in both VB and C# because of the big differences between creating attributes, inheriting objects, etc in the two languages. In fact, as far as I know, these are the first VB samples for debugger visualizers in print. Even the MSDN Library still only has C#.

There were two articles written on this previously - Scott Nonneberg wrote one on MSDN Online based on Beta 1, and Morgan Skinner included visualizers in this early article which based on pre-Beta 1 bits.

I was hoping to get a chance to drill into this and a few other of the new debugger display attributes at TechEd but it looks like that won't be happening. I see only 29 developer specific topics in all of TechEd2005 and it's not one of them.

Anyway, I hope the article is useful to many. There are also articles in there by Juval Lowy, Deborah Kurata and Dino Esposito as well as a few others. It's nice to be in such fine company.

My second in print .NET article is coming very soon - though in a different magazine.

Thanks again Rodman!

http://www.AcehAid.org

here is a  reminder of the "before" on Steve Smith's blog.

And just go right to www.ASPAlliance.com for the "after". Very nice design.

http://www.AcehAid.org

Very cool to see Robert in mainstream media!!

The author mentions tablet pc's in passing:

[At NEC,] Mr Scoble's area of expertise was tablet PCs—laptop computers that allow users to handwrite their notes, and that have been mostly a dud, both then and now.

Sad to see that in the same article since Robert is such a huge tablet pc enthusiast and evangelist.

http://www.AcehAid.org

yes, we (that's YOU, the .net community) have raised

$10,138

for Aceh Aid at IDEP to help with their phenomenal relief efforts in Sumatra.

Thanks to everyone who participated, consultants and bidders.

We are not going to list the winners for reasons of privacy.

Stay tuned for more auctions....

http://www.AcehAid.org

Somehow I managed to get home last night at the scheduled time. The previous plane that was supposed to fly into Burlington was diverted to Albany, so I was lucky.

Powder day today! Though one morning of skiing through heavy powder was more than enough for me.

VSLive/Windows Anywhere was a blast. Lots to learn, everyone to see, new people to meet. Walt Ritscher posted some pictures from Wednesday night's dinner when I *finally* got to get some sushi. Apologies to Sam Gentile since I neglected to call to let him know where we landed after I had had a few too many sakes.

I finally saw a Wacom digitizer that is a small device you can plug into your desktop and have inking capablities. I am definitely going to get one since I spend most of my time at my desk using my desktop computer.

The MS Tablet Team put together a great event Tuesday night at a very cool art gallery called Varnish.

This was after a long weekend in Seattle for the INETA working group meeting which Chris Pels blogged about and a few days of hanging out before heading to SF. I went on the Underground Tour of Seattle with Chris Wallace. It was fantastic and I highly recommend it. What a bizarre history Seattle has!

So now I am just trying to catch up with the emails then I'm off to Boston for Web Services Edge East on Tuesday then NYC to see a client the next week, then back to Boston for  Code Camp a few weeks after that and then Orlando for DevConnections a few weeks after that. That's a lot of travelling for me, but nothing compared to what Kimberly Tripp rattled off the other evening!

http://www.AcehAid.org

After making a small adjustment during an Indigo talk Don Box says: "If I flex, it won't pop off."

Steve Swartz was really hoping that quote would get blogged with no context. Happy to oblige.

Posted from BLInk!

ooops! MSN Messenger site. Monday 2/7 at 4:49 PST.

Posted from BLInk!

Sam Schultz is one of those amazing guys you  think only exist in the movies. BUt he's real. He is one of the amazing people that is working with IDEP to bring critical support into the horribly devastated areas of Sumatra. A reporter from the Christian Science Monitor traveled with Sam and wrote this story.

One man's mission to bring relief to cut-off villages

Galvanized by images of the disaster, Sam Schultz bought a plane ticket, hired a boat and crew, and was soon sailing down Indonesia's Sumatran coast to help survivors...

Here are the pictures that go with it.

http://www.AcehAid.org

Off to Seattle for an all day INETA working group meeting that is tomorrow and then to SF on Monday for VSLive/WindowsAnywhere. (I live in the NorthEast - so "off to seattle" is an all day affair.)

Really looking forward to seeing some new toys while at WindowsAnywhere!!

http://www.AcehAid.org

Ooh - this I gotta see! I still have a lot to learn about WSE2 and hearing every possible different person's perspective even on the intro stuff is always helping me grok this all more and more. Even though I'm speaking at Windows Anywhere, I get to go to VSLive sessions as well. There will be so much to choose from. Lots of new content.

http://www.AcehAid.org

Not only is it full articles on Web Services and WSE 2.0, but it means that the April issue is next!!

http://www.AcehAid.org

Stuart Celarier is organizing an informal get-together of INETA folks and user group leaders who might be in San Francisco next week at the VSLive/WindowsAnywhere conferences. It will be fun to hook up with people we do con-calls and instant messengers with all of the time, eh? I'll be there. Not sure who else. Contact Stuart at stuart.celarier at ineta dot org  if you want to join us and he will let you know where and when (which is as of yet undetermined).

http://www.AcehAid.org

You have 2 more weeks to submit sessions for Code Camp 3, Mar 12-13 in the Microsoft Waltham Office! We would love to see more people making their debut doing presentations here! Come one come all. I only see on other woman on the list, too. And I am only ASSUMING that someone named "Hilary" is a girl. I have met men named Hilary, you know!

http://www.AcehAid.org

Werner Vogels is looking for someone who knows their stuff re Distributed Systems. Read more here.

http://www.AcehAid.org

The auction has ended. We had a lot of people bidding! The lowest winning bid was $152.50 so even if the winners only pay what eBay requires them to pay ($152.50), we have raised $4575 for Aceh Aid at IDEP. I have heard many people are planning to pay the actual maximum amount that they bid (which we can't see) so I expect the final tally to be much higher. This was great! Thanks for everyone's contributions - whether they were a bid, an hour, an offer for a future hour or some p.r. on their blogs.

Here is the final list. Perhaps we will translate it into real names at some point (with everyone's permission). We will let everyone know what the final true amount is!!

EBay sorts them in the order of the highest bid yet only shows the lowest winning bid. The draft will be based on what people actually pay (per consultant). It will be in one week. Check back for more info!

http://www.AcehAid.org

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=5552696499

Remember it's a CHARITY auction. Don't be nickel and diming those bids!!

It's all for www.acehaid.org

http://www.AcehAid.org

Keith Brown's new article on MSDN Online  is high on my reading list and will be incorporated into my WSE2 talk at DevConnections. UsernameTokens will be much more highly used than I think was originally planned for with WSE2.

http://www.AcehAid.org

blogs I love, bloggers I admire, but every time I see that "sponsored" note it just annoys me and so I am probably going to be unsusbscribing from those blogs. :-(

 

http://www.AcehAid.org

(If you are a vermont.net member, you are not allowed to apply for this job and move away. )

SQL Server 2000 Expert

** Full-time position, Location is Connecticut, Salary is negotiable and highly competitive **
Responsibilities:
• Maintain production SQL server environment which supports a substantial base of mostly custom applications
• Serve as subject matter expert in working with Database/Software Developers and Data Analysts to define data models, schemas and database application architectures
• Implement and Manage best practice based security model and auditing including delegation, Kerberos and encryption
• Gain intimate familiarity with normal usage and operations of database applications in order to troubleshoot real-time issues and optimize databases, indexing and data allocations for efficiency and issue avoidance
• Design, development and installation of SQL monitoring systems and solutions
• Responsible for the implementation and operation of disaster recovery strategy, architecture, and detailed plan for all database applications
• Design and implement high availability, clustered, and replicated SQL environments where desirable and feasible
• Establish and document coding standards and best practices for schema design and T-SQL queries
• Establish and monitor procedures and technologies for creating and maintaining data dictionaries
• Establish and monitor procedures and technologies for change management within SQL Server
• Research and advance new technologies affecting SQL Server development that may provide value to enterprise applications
• Lead SQL Server in-house training efforts through the development of syllabi, course materials, and core knowledge requirements
Experience:
• Expert level experience with Microsoft SQL 2000 – including usage, administration, monitoring, optimization, architecture, etc
• Substantial experience with large data sets – over 100GB in size
• Expert in profiler, real-time analysis, monitoring solutions
• Expert in Performance Optimization of queries and SQL code
• Significant experience in resolving complex, multi-component failures
• Must be able to create all aspects of documentation that follows traditional systems design methodologies
• Must have excellent organization, communication, teamwork and leadership skills.
• Must have demonstrated, strong attention to detail and quality.
• Must provide examples of analyzing and optimizing business processes in past roles
• Experience with OLAP services is desired
Near-term Projects in Addition to Ongoing Responsibilities:
• Baseline and gap analysis of current SQL environment vs. ideals and best practices
• Develop short and long term strategy for SQL environment monitoring and alerting
• Design and implement a SQL basic training course for in house developers to ensure a minimum threshold of consistent and appropriate SQL knowledge
• Create and begin the preparation process for an eventual migration to the SQL 2005 platform

For immediate consideration, please contact:
Anne Keehan
Partner
Brandywine Technology Partners
Phone: 302.656.6100 x225
Email: akeehan@btpartners.net

http://www.AcehAid.org

For Christmas, I got my hubby a 4-month membership in this great beer of the month club. I have given him this in the past. Who knows, it might have helped provoke him to propose to me! They send awesome beer from microbrews all over the u.s. that you might never have heard of. The first one arrived today. I laughed my ass off when I opened it up. It contained 6 bottles of  Wolavers beer which is made by Otter Creek brewery in Middlebury - 25 miles from our house. Wolavers is also currently Rich's favorite - he just loves their Wit Beer which was a special release. The other beer selection  was from Michigan's Arcadia Brewing Company. Of course it's all a big lead up to the Vermont Brewer's Fest this summer. I drive. Rich drinks. You can get pretty goofy on ten 3-oz samples!

http://www.AcehAid.org