I just did my first solo MSDN webcast today. Being the worrywart that I am, I was a little nervous. Here's the lowdown ...hopefully useful for other first timers! [read more....]

[A DevLife post]

So I'm flipping through the local weekly, Seven Days, and I did a double take when I thought I saw Bruce Schneier's name in big letters at the top of the page. Here's the article.

Yep it's him and yep he's coming to Vermont. There's an ACLU meeting on Tuesday and he's speaking at it.

When? You ask? On Tuesday, the day I will be in Boston at TechEd. I will be driving past Montpelier at about 7am.

It's not like I pay attention to his speaking schedule, which has this event on it!

Aaaaargh.

I have posted my version of the powerpoint (not the pretty MSDN version since I don't have that) and the sample code from today's Intro to WSE 3.0 webcast.

You can find them on my TALKS page. Scroll down to Introduction to.... and you'll see the zip and ppt files.

Thanks to all who attended!

I hear there was a snafu with the survey and MP3 Raffle and that emails will be sent out to attendees on how to get back in the game (within 24 hours, they told me)

Rather than paste miles (271 lines) of angle brackets in here, I am posting the section of my trace files here from today's webcast and have renamed it so you can view it in your browser if you want. Note that in general, these trace files will contain your UNSECURED raw data as well (I have stripped those sections out in mine) so you don't normally want to do this!

I have put comments in the file to point out what is of interest.

Here is the basic story.

Because our policy indicates SecureConversation, WSE will know that before it can make that HelloWorld call, it needs to request a security context token. So you will see not one, but TWO outgoing messages, one right afte the other. THe first is the request for an SCT that WSE deemed necessary (based on the policy). That request sends the usernameToken with the login and password we provided in code. The user is authenticated against the db and the SCT is created and sent back to the cient. Then the client creates the HelloWorld request, but instead of using the username/password for authentcation, it uses the SCT!

I have put comments in the key spots of the file so you can see the differences between the first and second request. I.E. renders them as gray. Don't be afraid to look at this goo because it's a good arrow to have in your problem-solving quiver! I promise you won't have angle-bracket filled nightmares. If you do, I recommend Dr. Ewald's CureAll Tonic for Angle Brackets.

I'm packing up the code and will write another post when it is on the presentations page of website.

[update: see this post for information on the sample code, etc.]

I did an MSDN Webcast today on Introducing WSE 3.0. Since I had an unusually short amount of time to get through all of my demos,I practiced them over and over (even though they were old hat to me ) just to make sure nothing unexpected happen.

On the very last demo, where I created a new Policy that had "SecureConversation" turned on, it threw an error when I ran the client side app. There was not time to deal with the error and since I knew I had done everything correctly, I moved on, highlighting the key take-away of the demo (which was not seeing "Hello World" on a black screen, but what SC is and how easy it is to implement.)

Now I have just gone back to see what wasn't lined up. I ran the demo again so that I could see what the error was and make sure the code was a-ok before I posted it.... and wouldn't you know, it just friggin worked. And I hadn't touched anything yet.

As my grandmother and all of her grandmothers before her would say: Oy Vey!

[update: see this post for information on the sample code, etc. and this post for more info on the SecureConversation demo]

Sergei Serdyuk writes about last night's first Vermont Ruby User Group meeting in Burlington.

As part of the Web Services Webcast Series, I'll be doing an Intro to WSE 3.0 tomorrow morning at 11am.

It will be a 1 hour session on the key features of WSE 3.0 with as many demos as I can cram in!

There's an MP3 raffle for attendees of this series. Check it out!

Here is the whole series. Please don't ask me why the series of web casts on Web Services (WSE, ASMX, and lot of WCF, of course) is called "Windows Vista: Improve your Deployment and Security Strategy", but at least it's under the WCF section, since it's like a WCF starter kit for those who can't wait until WCF is live!

See you tomorrow!

I seem to be having a time stamp problem when I post to my blog from my blogging tool (here) that I use 98% of the time to write my posts. Hopefully I'll get it figured out. In the meantime, I am blogging right online in dasblog.

Twice, I spent some time googling around for some way of having "copy file name" in my context menu in Windows. I saw a few utilities, but couldn't find anything (along the lines of Scott Haneslman's Ultimate Tools list) recommending any of them. So I happened to blog "wouldn't it be nice" and out of the woodwork come a lot comments and emails with tool (and key-combo - which I have been using but somehow I prefer the ol' right-click) recommendations. There is even a still-functioning in XP Windows 95 PowerToy.

Mike Gunderloy, googled and emailed me a suggestion. My reponse was "hey, *you* try it first, Mikey and let me know if it blows up your computer or not."

Here's the list of recommendations that have come through my blog and Mike's post. Some of these people are using, others have said "found this on Google for you"

Win95 PowerToy

Ninotech PathCopy

keyboard F2 (rename) ; Ctrl+C

Clipname

ClipPath

keyboard F2; Ctrl+A; Ctrl+C

Clickie

CopyFileNames

Go forth and conquer. Let me know what your faves are.

Eric Sink does it again. This post is bound to be another blogging classic!

I have a great vet and a dog who is suprisingly beyond the age of a typical newfoundland.

Tasha is 12 1/2 and still chases the neighbor's cat (kinda of slowly though) but it's a little tough for her to get up off the floor and climb the stairs, but boy does she want to so she does.

Today my vet finally suggested that Tasha is a great candidate for Acupuncture. He is a well known practioner  and though so far we have gone all allopathic/Western medicine with Tasha, I'm glad that we will get to delve into this area of his expertise! It's the reason that I chose him as our vet - knowing that we'd have these options if they were necessary.

Poor Tasha. He said he can feel how swollen her back knees are with arthritis and that it's not just difficult but painful for her to do those things (lifting herself up off the floor, climbing the stairs.) She's been on awesome glucosomine related products for years (Cetyl-M) This will be the last resort of keeping her happy and healthy for as long as we can and I'm really looking forward to it. Becaues of my travel, we can't get started until the end of June with the weekly sessios, but we have some other allopathic med for her in the meantime - which is like super duper aspirin.

Okay, bad analogy... I admit it. But it's early and I've only had one cupajoe.

I was helping someone out with some VBA code in their Access 2003 database. (It was not a situation where moving to VSTO was an option, in case you were about to suggest that.) I was just helping them get something working. It's really painful coding in VBA after years of .NET, not only the IDE experience, but going backwards with things like instantiating a variable (which you have to do separately from code to give it a variable). There are things I know how to solve, but the way I would go about it (the .NET way) isn't an option and I have to find alternate routes. But, heck, it was a rainy weekend, and I hammered through it and put a big smile on the faces of these guys.

It's not Scott Hanselman's famous Ultimate Tools list, but a short list of the utlities I use that make me happy. [Read more...]

[A DevLife post]

One of the best comic strip artists in the country lives in Vermont, just a few towns north from where I live, in fact. I have been a big fan of her strip "Dykes to Watch Out For" (which obviously has a broader appeal than what the title indicates) for years, not even realizing the author, Alison Bechdel, was practically a neighbor.

Alison has been working for years on an autobiographicnovel (sorry that's german for Autobiographic graphic novel, or graphic memoir) that was recently published. Much hoopla is being made of it in Burlington. I'm looking forward to getting a copy! She's touring all over the country (including Seattle & Portland!) so you can get a signed copy even if you don't live in Vermont.

SevenDays has a great article on Alison and her book this week. But lest you think it's just us northwest Vermonters who are excited about Alison's book - is Entertainment Weekly (rave review) maintsream enough? She also mentions in her blog that the current issue of People has done a piece on her.

The June 2006 INETA newsletter came out last week. Althought there's alot of very interesting news in there, I was excited to see the interview of INETA Speaker Bureau member Phil Weber get out in the wild. I had fun asking questions but was astonished at some of his answers. Rather than spoil the fun, I'll point to the newsletter!

Also in the newsletter: a new logo,  new tag line and a new fleshed out Sponsorship program!

There's lots of INETA stuff going on at TechEd. A regional User Group Leader meeting (all are invited) on Sunday, June 11th and of course the Birds of a Feather sessions! This will be the first TechEd/PDC that I am not leading a BOF as I wasn't sure of my travel schedule, but there are a ton of awesome BOFs scheduled.

So if you didn't get the June Newsletter in your email, you can go right to the website to read all the news (that's fit to print)!

The second INETA Live! session was held on Wednesday: Starting a User Group. This was presented by Dave Noderer, Jason Beres and myself. Unfortunately a nasty thunder and lightning storm that started just as the webcast began forced me to bail. Even during the first few minutes while I was explaining what a user group is, I was a wee bit distracted watching some b-i-g lightning bolts in the sky. My house got struck by lightning last summer, so I take no chances. I had to power down and unplug everything. I got back online and on the webcast aout 15 minutes before the end. Of course Dave, Jason, Amanda, Theresa and Chris had done an amazing job.

I have finally made the v2 of the Vermont.NET site live. It's an ASP.NET 2.0 with SQL Server 2005 on the back end. I challenged myself to use lots of new ASP.NET 2.0 features that I hadn't played with yet. [Read more ...]

[A DevLife post]

Kirk Allen Evans has organized some of the top WCF/Web Services gurus (and me,too!) to do a web cast series through June.

For those of you securing web services TODAY, my webcast will be Overview of WSE 3.0 . June 8th at 11am EST (that's 8am PST).

More info here

Also oooh aah a raffle for attendees!! Attend any webcast in this series and qualify to win a 40 gigabyte Creative Zen MP3 player (official rules).

Here is the full of the schedule

“The Lifetime of a Message in Windows Communication Foundation”

Justin Smith, Wintellect

6/1/2006 8:00 AM PST

http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/eventdetail.aspx?eventID=1032299306&Culture=en-US

 “Taking Advantage of TCP/IP Reliability in SOAP”

William “Softwaremaker” Tay

6/6/2006 8:00 AM PST

http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/eventdetail.aspx?eventID=1032299329&Culture=en-US

 “Extending Windows Communication Foundation”

Aaron Skonnard, Pluralsight

6/7/2006 8:00 AM PST

http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/eventdetail.aspx?eventID=1032299313&Culture=en-US

“Introducing Web Services Enhancements for Microsoft .NET (WSE) 3.0”

Julie Lerman, The Data Farm

6/8/2006 8:00 AM PST

http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/eventdetail.aspx?eventID=1032299315&Culture=en-US

“What’s New for ASP.NET Web Services (ASMX) in .NET 2.0”

Kirk Allen Evans, Microsoft Corporation

6/13/2006 8:00 AM PST

http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/eventdetail.aspx?eventID=1032299322&Culture=en-US

“Dissecting Contract-First Web Services”

Christian Weyer, thinktecture

6/14/2006 8:00 AM PST

 http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/eventdetail.aspx?eventID=1032299331&Culture=en-US 

   “Transactions in Distributed Solutions with Windows Communication Foundation”

Christian Weyer, thinktecture

6/15/2006 8:00 AM PST

http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/eventdetail.aspx?eventID=1032299342&Culture=en-US

“Building Powerful AJAX-Style Solutions with ASP.NET "Atlas" and Windows Communication Foundation”

Kirk Allen Evans, Microsoft Corporation

6/20/2006 8:00 AM PST

http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/eventdetail.aspx?eventID=1032299344&Culture=en-US

“Exposing Your Content as a Service Using Windows Communication Foundation’

Clemens Vasters, Microsoft Corporation

6/21/2006 8:00 AM PST

http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/eventdetail.aspx?eventID=1032299346&Culture=en-US

“Web Services Interoperability with Java and J2EE Using Windows Communication Foundation ("Indigo")”

Kirill Gavrylyuk, Microsoft Corporation

6/22/2006 8:00 AM PST

http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/eventdetail.aspx?eventID=1032299348&Culture=en-US

“Understanding Windows Communication Foundation Contracts”

Michele Leroux Bustamante, IDesign

6/28/2006 8:00 AM PST

http://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/eventdetail.aspx?eventID=1032299360&Culture=en-US

Rich and I actually went out for a short hike yesterday. We can just go out the back door and through the woods to get to a trail called the Beane Trail that is an access trail to the Long Trail. Our plan was just to take a walk up to the shelter at the end of the Beane trail which is just a few hundred feet shy of the LT. We don't generlly hike in the spring (too wet & muddy) or in the summer (too hot & buggy), but this was, well,right in between. It was a nice day. The trail going up the mountain wasn't muddy at all. After a short sit at the shelter, Rich suggested rather than going back down, we could go north on the LT for a bit to where it intersects with the Catamount (x-c ski) and VAST (snowmobile) trails and then go down the VASTtrail back to the base of the Beane Trail then home again. After a check of how much water we had left and some figgerin' about how much extra time/distance it would be, I agreed.

 Along the way, I was surpised at how manydifferent varieties of Trillium were still in bloom. One that we saw a lot of were Painted Trillium. I didn't have my camera, but I'm a crappy photographer anyway. Here is a photo by a Vermont woman who has many beautiful photos of Vermont flowers on her blog. (Thanks Lene!)

I also found a photo of another flower we saw on her blog - called Clintonia.

Another one we saw a lot of at a higher elevation was the Purple Trillium which I found on this web page.

When we headed down the snowmobile trail it was like a bog -so muddy from all the rain. But mud is a good place to see footprints. And we saw plenty! One set that went along the trail was from a moose.  It was big. I put my foot in the print and it was wider than my foot and about 2/3 the length.

The other prints we saw were cat paw prints. BIG cat paw prints. I'll have to find a tracker book to see if it was way too big to have been a bobcat (apparently that's the case based on how big my neighbor's eyes got when I showed her the size of the prints) or a cougar (aka "catamount").

All in all I think we ended up doing about 5.5 miles which was a little more than either of us were ready for. But it was fun! Today was a good day to sit at the computer.