Mark Groves' Weblog: Blog

New Blog

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 22:55:48 GMT

I have decided to move my personal blog over to http://markgroves.us. I have moved all of the current posts from this Live Spaces blog over there.

ZUNE Gen 2

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 23:26:10 GMT

Val has been wanting a new flash based music player, and of course me being the gadget guy that I am I had to see if we were going to jump the Zune given it finally has a flash player. So on Friday before I left for my leave I decided to stop by the Microsoft Company store and pickup a couple new 8GB flash Zunes. I have to say I am pretty impressed, the devices is much lighter than I expected and the screen is great to look at. I actually like the new Zune software, the big issue I have right now is no ability to build auto playlists. What I am looking for is the ability to customize what I put on my player based on how much I like the music and how many times I have played a given track. I understand that the Zune team pulled the Auto Playlists in this version since they did research that most normal users just never understood how they worked. Well I hope they bring them back, and better than in WMP.

Technorati Tags: Zune,Music,Gadgets

220, 221 what ever it takes

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 17:40:11 GMT

Today is my first day home being Mr. Mom. Yeah, that is right, Val is back to work I am home with Evelyn for the next 6 weeks. So far so good, 9:40 and the baby is still alive. I do have a some help the next two weeks, my Mom is out from Pittsburgh, so there is little chance I will even get to hold my daughter.

Technorati Tags: Family

Dry Skin

Sun, 23 Sep 2007 02:27:02 GMT

Technorati Tags: Elephant , Zoo

Exhausted

Sun, 16 Sep 2007 15:04:38 GMT

Technorati Tags: Photography , b&w , family

Monarch at Woodland Park

Sun, 16 Sep 2007 02:31:44 GMT

Technorati Tags: Butterfly , Woodland Park , Zoo , Photography

Happy Birthday Evelyn

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 21:58:18 GMT

I am happy to announce that our daughter Evelyn Lucille Groves was born Sunday the 15th at 2AM. Val and baby are doing great and are home resting. Evelyn was born at 7 lbs 3 oz, just under 21" long. Hayden is very very excited:

Video: Happy Birthday Evelyn HQ

John Butler Trio US Tour

Sat, 14 Apr 2007 20:21:15 GMT

Grand National, the latest John Butler Trio album must be doing great in the US. It was just announced that JBT will be doing a full US tour starting next month in Baltimore. I already have our tickets to the Seattle show. Although this is where I wish we still lived in Denver, it would be cool to see JBT at Red Rocks.

USA GRAND NATIONAL TOUR
5/22/07 Sonar Baltimore, MD
5/23/07 9:30 Club Washington, DC
5/24/07 Webster Hall New York, NY
5/27/07 Jam on the River Philadelphia, PA
5/30/07 Phoenix Concert Theatre Toronto, ON
5/31/07 St. Andrews Hall Detroit, MI
6/1/07 Headliner’s Louisville, KY
6/2/07 Riviera Theatre Chicago, IL
6/3/07 The Vogue Theatre Indianapolis, IN
6/5/07 TBA
6/6/07 Eagles Club Milwaukee, WI
6/7/07 First Avenue Minneapolis, MN
6/9/07 Wakarusa Festival Lawrence, KS
6/12/07 House of Blues Dallas, TX
6/13/07 La Zona Rosa Austin, TX
6/14/07 Warehouse Live Houston, TX
6/15/07 Revolution Music Room Little Rock, AR
6/17/07 Bonnaroo Festival Manchester, TN
6/20/07 4th & B Theater San Diego, CA
6/22/07 Wiltern Los Angeles, CA
6/23/07 Fillmore San Francisco, CA
6/24/07 Fillmore San Francisco, CA
6/26/07 Crystal Ballroom Portland, OR
6/27/07 The Moore Theatre Seattle, WA
6/28/07 TBA
6/30/07 Red Rocks Denver, CO
7/1/07 Taos Solar Music Festival Taos, NM

John Butler Trio - Live

Fri, 02 Mar 2007 17:37:24 GMT

WOW, what a concert. Val and I were lucky enough to get tickets to John Butler's concert last night at The Triple Door in Seattle. For those that do not know the John Butler Trio, you are really missing out, they are this great band from Down Under. The best way I can describe their music is a mix between Blues, Funk, Reggae, Folk, World music.

If you have any interest at all in the above types of music I would highly suggest you check them out. I have been listening to JBT for a couple years now, I happen to stumble upon them in searching for new artists a couple years back, and really dug John Butler's guitar playing, and to see it live was way more then I expected. To see in person him play a 12 string acoustic, and the combination of sounds he is able to produce really makes their songs even more enjoyable.

The Triple Door was a killer place to see a show like this, it is a intimate dinner style theater, I believe it only seats 300 people, with full service kitchen and wait staff. The sound system was great, and with no seat more the 35 paces from the stage there is not a bad seat in the house.

Check out Grand National releasing some time around the end of March.

Big News

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 19:48:41 GMT

Well I have been holding off creating this post since I was not sure how I wanted to approach this topic on my blog. But as many of you already know, Val and I are expecting another child. Not that Hayden was not good enough for us, but we thought it would be good to try for kid 2.0.

Hayden is actually very excited, he has always wanted to be a "big sister". In our many conversations with him on this topic he is very convinced that the new baby will be a little girl, and that he is going to be a big sister. I know he is just a little confused, but since we don't actually know if it will be a little boy or a little girl yet, the conversation has yet to make progress. Needless to say he is very excited, although I am not sure how excited he will be to have a little brother (if that is the case) since he seems very stuck on have a little sister.

Since Hayden blessed us by coming 2 months early we are considered high risk on this one, so that means we will be getting plenty of ultrasounds between now and when the baby arrives, hopefully somewhere around end of June (~+36 weeks).

When a Tree Falls in your Backyard...

Tue, 09 Jan 2007 05:38:15 GMT

it definitely makes a sound. I had the pleasure of being awaken at 1AM Saturday morning by a 75' tree that blew over in our backyard. We had a pretty bad wind storm, 50 mph gusts. We were very lucky that the tree only took out one section the of our fence. It could have been much worse pretty much any other direction would have hit a house. over 40 bags of branches later the yard is back to normal.

Weekend in Sequim

Sun, 20 Aug 2006 04:26:36 GMT

Val had a great idea to take a couple day off an go explore a part of Washington state that neither one of us has ever visited, before summer was over. So we decided to take last Friday off and drive over to Sequim

on the north Olympic Peninsula. We took the ferry, which Hayden loved, not only does he love boats, but to drive our car onto the boat, well he thought that was great.

It was a pretty chill weekend, we got to hang out as a family, get some hiking in and I got to work on my photography. There was some beautiful scenery with some great landscapes. I think my photographs are getting better, but I still have a ton to learn.

We first visited the Spit out on the Dungeness Bay, which basically is this natural sand peninsula. It is 5 miles long, with a lighthouse on the end, and more huge pieces of driftwood then I have ever seen. The waves were a little too much for Hayden, just too loud for him, but he did like the calmer side.

On Saturday we explored part of the Olympic National Park, a very small part, it is a huge national park. We drove up to Hurricane Ridge it was a whopping mile high, I know that is not much for my Denver readers, but it is a big deal around here. Then we went for a hike up to Marymere Falls, which gave me some great photo opportunities.

I was a great weekend, and we got to explore a small part of Washington State that we definitely will be visiting again. Although I think we will try camping next time, that is if I get around to fixing the brakes on my Rover.

[By the way Windows Live Writer is pretty cool. I was using W.Bloggar, but I think I have not found my new blog writing tool.]

Windows Live Writer

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 16:26:51 GMT

I decided to try out the new blog writing tool that just came out in beta form Windows Live Writer. So far it seems pretty good, I need to try it both with my MSDN blog also, but so far I like the potential.

Maybe I will try out the image layout features when I get a change later this week. I got to take a good number of photographs this last weekend while away on a short vacation (more on that in a later post).

I will have to see how Live Writer compares with Word 2007, the spell checking inline within Word is a great feature for us engineer types.

I Love Sushi

Sat, 29 Jul 2006 19:14:20 GMT

One of the great things about moving to the Seattle area is having family close at hand. Since Val's parents and sister live in Seattle they get to spend time with our son. And we get to go out do dinner now and then since they love watching him. So tonight Val and I got to go out for Sushi (another benefit of living in Seattle). To a place called I Love Sushi, ok the name is lame but the food was great. We got the chef's special sashimi, it was nice not having to pick, our sushi chef picked out some great fish.

RE: New MINI rolled out for the European press

Fri, 28 Jul 2006 23:40:21 GMT

I have been extreemly happy with my 2006 Cooper S, it is hands down been the best daily driver I have ever owned (my 928 Porsche was great but not a good daily driver). Sounds like the major change in the new powerplant with a turbo charger replacing the supercharger in the current version.

Scribes on the European side of the Atlantic were pounding the keyboards Thursday, eager to report on their test drives of a prototype of the MINI Mk2. The barely-disguised test car was wrung out by journalists at the ex-Formula 1 racetrack at Zandvoort in Holland, and first reports are encouraging, with phrases like "polish and precision," "greater civility," and "very quick" sprinkled through Autocar's test drive report.

The biggest change in the Mk2 is up front - the new MINI is powered by a 1.6-liter all-aluminum engine co-developed with Peugeot-Citroen, which in Cooper S trim features direct injection and a twin-scroll turbocharger, boosting output to 175 hp and 177 ft-lb of torque. (An overboost system yields 192 ft-lb of torque under wide-open acceleration.) The normally-aspirated version puts out 118 hp. What Car? is guesstimating a 0-60 time for the Cooper S of around 7 seconds.

(Full press release after the jump)

Power is delivered through a six-speed Getrag box, or an optional six-speed automatic. Paddle shifters will be optional.

While slightly longer, exterior changes to the Mk2 are fairly subtle. Interior changes, on the other hand, are much more extensive, with new seats, new controls and a generally higher level of fit and finish all around.

Other significant changes include electric power steering and much improved front-end ride, courtesy of the lighter engine and additional suspension travel.

[Via Autoblog]

New Work Blog

Mon, 24 Jul 2006 22:57:09 GMT

Since I have been a Microsoft employee for about 9 months (WOW, 9 months already), I thought it would be a good idea to move my work related content over to blogs.msdn.com. Of course since I have been very lazy, on even updating this blog, I guess I now have twice as much content that needs published :)

My new work blog is: http://blogs.msdn.com/mgroves

Design for Security

Wed, 12 Apr 2006 01:34:27 GMT

One of the lesser know features in Visual Studio Team Edition for Software Architects (VSTESA), is the ability to run Validators over your models. The designers within Team Architect use System Definition Model (SDM) to model Systems, Resources and Endpoints. SDM provides a constraint validation mechanism to validate mutual conformance of application and logical datacenter designers against each other's requirements defined. This constraint mechanism can be extended to validate the design against best practices as well. A Validator is just a custom defined constraint validating the design against items such as security, performance or architectural design best practices. There will be an upcoming walkthrough and accompanying white-paper describing how to build a Validator in the coming months on MSDN, that Erbil is working on.

The ability to build validators that check models for known security risks are key to our ability to do Threat Modeling through tools like the Threat Analysis & Modeling v2.0. Although validators are great, not all countermeasures can be validated through our tool. Some items just need to be checked manually, to ensure that work is done and not forgotten, that's Team Foundation Work Items come into play. ACE is working on exporting the countermeasures into TFS as work items in their next release. This ability, along with Validators, really makes the ability to conduct Threat Modeling on your design traceable as you work through various iterations of your project.

MSDN Webcast: Visual Studio Team System Extensibility: Creating and Extending System Definition Models (Level 200)

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 00:45:35 GMT

If you are interested in some of the ways you can extend Team Architect, check out Dmitriy Nikonov and Erbil Yilmaz tomorrow (4/42006) at 10 AM Pacific time. If you were ever thinking of creating your own Models within Team Architect or wanted to understand how to create your own custom Validators this is a required Webcast.

MSDN Webcast: Visual Studio Team System Extensibility: Creating and Extending System Definition Models (Level 200)

Seattle Zoo

Fri, 17 Mar 2006 16:33:40 GMT

I took off work a few days this week to spend time with my Mom, who came out to visit for a couple weeks, and son, Hayden. It was very fun, but exhausting; a 2 year old is one busy human.

I also got the chance to dust off my camera a take a few decent shots at the Seattle Zoo. I think I still have a ton of practice ahead of me, but I am starting to see some improvement in my photographs.

Threat Analysis & Modeling v2.0 beta 2

Thu, 16 Mar 2006 23:54:44 GMT

The Microsoft ACE Team has just released beta 2 of their Threat Analysis & Modeling Tool, Download Here. I have been working with Talhah Mir, and team, on some integrations between Team Architect and their tool that hopefully will show up in the RTM version in the coming month.

I am not a security expert, but that's exactly why I like the approach this tool takes, you are not expected to be a subject matter expert on Threat Analysis. You just need to understand the use cases of your application and the tool takes that data and calculates the risks based on known threats. Then you can decide based on business impact which threats are high priority for your business.

There is a great video that helps explain the approach.

First set of Power Toys for Visual Studio released by the Developer Solutions team

Thu, 09 Mar 2006 18:50:50 GMT

Check out the new Power Toys from the Developer Solutions Team. From having to admin TFS during some early betas, I am sure the TFS Admin Tool will be very valuable.

Check out the Developer Solutions team's blog for the latest information on Power Toys for Visual Studio.
MSBee
MSBee is an addition to MSBuild that allows you to build managed apps in VS 2005 that target .NET 1.1.
Download MSBuild Extras - Toolkit for .NET 1.1 "MSBee" Beta 1
Managed Stack Explorer
MSE is a lightweight tool for monitoring .NET 2.0 processes and stack traces. Just copy and run. No installation required.
Download Managed Stack Explorer v1.1
TFS Administration Tool
The TFS Administration Tool allows you to manage users on TFS, Sharepoint, and SQL RS through one common UI.
Download TFS Admin Tool Beta 1

[Via Powertoys WebLog]

Top-Down System Design

Tue, 07 Mar 2006 01:25:05 GMT

When I first started to evaluate Visual Studio Team System for Software Architects, before I joined Microsoft and the Whitehorse team, I really did not understand how I was intended to use the product. Of course being like most techie's I did not bother to read any documentation, etc. I just dove right in, and tried to use to product how I expected it should work. From my perspective, as an architect, I designed systems, so I concluded that I should jump right into the System Designer. I was attempting to design my Systems in a very top-down approach, and my experimentation was met with several issues. First, only application that had been previously modeled on the Application Designer could be placed on the System Designer, and the only way to add Systems within Systems was to add new systems from the File > New Distributed System Diagram... menu. This seemed very counter intuitive to me, since I wanted to evolve the design from top-down, not from bottom-up.

Now that I am a Program Manager on the Whitehorse team I have learned more details about the System Designer, and how there were just some features that did not make it into version 1. There are some workarounds, Bill Gibson has a great Tech Note on Top-Down design and how Shadow Applications could be used to enable such functionality. Randy Miller (of MSF Agile fame) has even written a paper on agile development where he discusses the use of shadow applications in an agile process.

So my question is: has not being able to iteratively design your systems in a top-down approach been blocking your adoption of Team Architect? If so, does the process outlined in Bill's Tech Note a reasonable workaround? If not, what are your adoption blockers?

Bad Blogger

Mon, 06 Mar 2006 22:51:32 GMT

Well I have been way behind on my blogging lately. During lunch today several of my teammates were discussing our blogging activities, and made me realize I need to get more active again.

I have been having a blast driving my new Mini Cooper S. I keep forgetting to take some pictures, I guess I have been having too much fun driving it. One thing is for sure it gets way better mileage then my Rover, not that that was difficult, right now I am getting 27 mpg vs. 13 mpg on my Rover. I have not been able to really open the car up, since it is still in its break in period (340 miles to go), but the car still moves, even keeping it under 4000 rpms.

I also just got a new Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone, the T-Mobile SDA. I had a Windows Mobile 2003 smartphone, but this phone really take it to a new level. I think the coolest feature is integrated 802.11b. Now it's actually possible to surf the web on my phone. I really like the ability to check my mail and calendar from my phone, keeps me from having to boot my laptop just to check out information on my upcoming meetings.

One for the Thumb

Mon, 06 Feb 2006 04:22:58 GMT

Wow, I can't believe I can finally say this. The Steelers win Superbowl XL!!!

I have been waiting way too long for this championship win, but finally they did it. It was way too close for my tastes, but I will take the win.

Steelers FAQ - PittsburghLIVE.com

Fri, 03 Feb 2006 21:37:07 GMT

I thought this was some interesting history of the Steelers. I figured I would educate some of my local Seahawks fans on some interesting facts about the team they are going to lose to on Sunday.

Quote Steelers FAQ - PittsburghLIVE.com

Frequently asked questions about the Steelers (complete with answers ... in case you're into that kind of thing):

Q: Why do the Steelers stick an emblem on only one side of their helmet?

A: Because they can ... No, seriously: In 1961, the Steelers wanted to see how the new emblem would look on their helmet and placed it on one side as a test run. The test was so successful that the team opted to leave the other side blank.

Q: Speaking of emblems, what are those diamond-like things?

A: Things that look like diamonds, duh! ... They're called hypocycloids, and they represent the three materials used to make steel: yellow for coal, red for ore and blue for steel scrap.

Q: Why don't the Steelers have cheerleaders?

A: Well, for starters, influence of the female persuasion tends to make weak men out of otherwise strong and strapping gridiron warriors. ... Actually, the Rooneys simply believe that cheerleaders at football games are unnecessary. By the way, they are completely correct.

Q: When was the last time Ben Roethlisberger shaved?

A: Truth be told, Big Ben's bear was just a late sprouter. ... OK, time to settle some "serious" bets. First, Roethlisberger trimmed his now famous beard -- or infamous, depending on your point of view -- during the Super Bowl off-week. Still, near as anybody can tell, he started growing the beard prior to the Steelers' "Monday Night Football" game Nov. 28 in Indianapolis.

Q: Why did Roethlisberger start growing the beard?

A: Obviously, he's showing support for the underground movement that wishes the Steelers to employ cheerleaders. ... More likely, though, according to his father, Big Ben is just going through a phase.

Q: Jerome Bettis is the NFL's fifth all-time leading rusher, but how many of those yards have come during his Steelers tenure?

A: Most of them. ... But if you're into exact figures, 10,571 would work.

Q: Who ride?

A: We ride!

Q: What exactly does that mean?

A: "Who ride? We ride!" is the rallying cry of Steelers linebacker Joey Porter, who makes habit of asking the question inside the Steelers locker room and then leaves the answer for his teammates to roar collectively. Amazing how that works, huh?

Q: What was "The Chief's" secret longing that he never fulfilled?

A: The late, great Art Rooney Sr. secretly dreamed of owning a baseball team. Of course, this was before free agency.

Q: Are the Steelers named because they stole players from other teams?

A: Thieves! ... Believe it or not, the Steelers were named in honor of the men who helped make steel. The Pittsburgh Pirates, however, were in fact named because they had a reputation for "pirating" opposing players by offering them more money. Their original name: the Alleghenies.

Q: How much money did Mr. Rooney win at a race track to originally purchase the team in 1932?

A: One million dollars! (Give or take one million.) ... The oft-told tale of Mr. Rooney winning money at Aqueduct that he in turn used to buy the Steelers is a fable that was made up by a sportswriter from that era. Rooney did not start going to Aqueduct until 1937.

Q: Was Joe Greene really "mean"?

A: Not, apparently, if you offered him a bottle of Coca-Cola.

Q: Where did The Terrible Towel come from?

A: String. A lot of string. ... Sports most famous yellow piece of cloth actually started as a promotional tool prior to a Steelers playoff game in 1975. Myron Cope, the legendary former color man for the Steelers Radio Network, thought it could be used as a way to inspire Steelers Nation.

Q: Why doesn't Troy Polamalu cut his hair?

A: He does -- daily in fact. Unlike Big Ben, however, Polamalu's hair just grows really fast. ... Polamalu started letting his hair grow while in college at Southern California and has simply decided the longer look works for him.

Q: Besides their position, what do Heath Miller and former Steelers tight end Mark Bruener have in common?

A: Great eyes and charming personalities. ... Both were selected in the first round of the NFL Draft and, after Sunday, both will have played in the Super Bowl during their rookie seasons.

Q: How many numbers have the Steelers retired?

A: See, the Steelers actually didn't rely on uniform numbers for many years and instead opted for Roman numerals. But then the Super Bowl went and stole their idea, so the Steelers had to change on the fly and ... One. The number is 70, and it belonged to Hall-of-Fame defensive tackle Ernie Stautner. It was retired Oct. 25, 1964.

Threat Level Raised in Detroit

Fri, 03 Feb 2006 18:51:06 GMT

The Mini is one step closer

Tue, 31 Jan 2006 17:29:26 GMT

I just got the email that my Mini Cooper is one step closer to being in my possession. It just got picked up at the dealership in NJ by the car shipper. Now it gets put on a train headed to Seattle.

I think this says it all

Tue, 31 Jan 2006 04:54:11 GMT

Sleeping in Seattle

Thu, 26 Jan 2006 01:26:32 GMT

With the goal to start some trash talking...

You see I just don't really understand it, growing up in Pittsburgh, and being a life long Steelers fan. I can't understand how Seattle is still asleep. Maybe it's just that so many of the people here in Seattle are from somewhere else. But as this story shows, the city is not showing their excitement.

I have yet to hear anyone talking about the Seahawks winning the Superbowl. Now we all know that is not going to happen, but show some team spirit. It will make it much more fun to rub it in when the Steelers win.

Seattle has a 12th man, but it must be stuck in the drive thru line a Starbucks.

New Member of the Family

Tue, 24 Jan 2006 20:38:23 GMT

I just posted some pictures of my new ride. A 2006 Mini Cooper S will not be here in Seattle for a few more weeks, but I can't wait.

Now I have to get used to driving something that can be run over by other vehicles, instead of something that could do the running over.

Student wearing Broncos jersey forced to take test on floor

Mon, 23 Jan 2006 22:44:55 GMT

A lesson: if you live in the Pittsburgh area, do not wear a Broncos jersey before the AFC title game.We take our football seriously.

Quote

9news.com | News | Student wearing Broncos jersey forced to take test on floor

The teacher, John Kelly, forced Joshua Vannoy to sit on the floor and take the test Friday -- two days before the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Broncos 34-17 in the AFC championship game. Kelly also made other students throw crumpled up paper at Vannoy, whom he called a "stinking Denver fan," Vannoy told The Associated Press on Monday.

Superbowl Bound!!!

Sun, 22 Jan 2006 23:32:54 GMT

YES!!! The Steelers did it, next stop Detroit!

And for all my friends in Denver, better luck next year...

Look out Denver, the Steelers are coming to town!

Sun, 15 Jan 2006 23:35:27 GMT

Wow, what a game! A little too close for comfort, but the Steelers prevailed.

OK Denver, you wanted the Steelers at home, you got your wish.

Be careful what you wish for, you just might get IT!!!

Here we go Steelers!

Mon, 09 Jan 2006 01:44:03 GMT

What a great game, that is if your not a Cinci fan!!!

Way to go Steelers, 31 - 17 over the Bungles.

Watch out Indianapolis the Steelers are coming to town!

Windows Live Messenger Invites

Fri, 06 Jan 2006 21:42:05 GMT

I have 5 Beta invites for Windows Live Messenger 8.0...

If you want one let me know, I will need your email address so please leave it in the comment (no need if I have your address).

Remember this is a Beta, so it may not be the most stable piece of software yet, but it's your chance to help make it better before it ships.

You can also email me if you don't feel comfortable putting your email out there: mgroves84-at-gmail-dot-com

New MSDN Architecture Forums

Thu, 05 Jan 2006 21:34:11 GMT

Check out the new MSDN Architecture Forums that just launched today. Right now there are two forums, one focused on General Architecture, and another focused on Modeling and Tools. Of course the Modeling and Tools has a special interest for me.

Each has a RSS Feed of course:

Architecture General

Modeling and Tools

Merry Christmas

Sun, 25 Dec 2005 23:25:50 GMT

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. It was a pretty nice Christmas here in the Groves' household. We have Val's family over for Christmas Eve dinner last night, it was the first time the whole family had been together for Christmas in over 6 years.

Hayden, seemed to like Christmas, I don't think he really gets it yet, but he definitely liked opening his presents. I'm sure next year he will get it, and be asking us for stuff months ahead of time.

The only sad part was that I was not able to be with my family this year, hopefully my parents will be out to visit soon.

Tools to Design Software

Wed, 21 Dec 2005 19:32:09 GMT

So now that I am on the other side of the fence, working on the Whitehorse team. I am interested in what tools people use to help them design software, and why? In my past life as an architect, I used various sets of tools to help me break down the problem that I was trying to solve, along with communicating the solutions to others. The communication of the intent was always a challenge, but also the long term accuracy of the artifacts was more challenging.

So, software developers, architects, team leads, what do you use to both design and communicate the software you are planning to build? More importantly why? How successful has it been? What do you want out of a tool? What don't you want in a tool?

Getting Back into it!

Tue, 20 Dec 2005 17:58:40 GMT

OK, I know I have been very, very behind on blogging. It is shameful, actually I have had several ideas of things I wanted to talk about, but have just not spent the time to sit down and write it down. I am also way behind on posting (and taking) pictures of Hayden. Things have been pretty busy, we moved into our new house a couple weeks ago, so pretty much each weekend has been full with unpacking. Getting closer, the house is really starting to feel like ours.

Hayden has been doing great, he started in at daycare a few weeks ago, when Val started work at T-Mobile (Cheap phone plans, Yea!) Hayden loves daycare, Val can barely get a kiss in the morning before he runs off to start playing. It makes it much easier knowing he really has fun all day.

As far as techie stuff, I started using w.bloggar again, since now Spaces supports the MetaWeblog API. I have also been using Windows Live Messenger 8.0 beta, one of the benefits of working for the borg, early access to cool betas. Hopefully more to come on some of the cool stuff coming out from live.com

First week at Microsoft

Fri, 28 Oct 2005 18:20:04 GMT

Well I just about finished my first week at Microsoft, and it has been really cool. The first day was new employee orientation, which surprisingly was really fun and interesting, well except the lawyer section, and even that was not that bad. The funny thing is that since my team just shipped, we all had a few days off. So I have been coming in to catch up, but it gave me an opportunity to start looking for some houses.

And yes it has rained several days since I have been here, but I have seen the sun, I know you won't believe me, but it does exist up here.

On the Road

Fri, 21 Oct 2005 14:28:28 GMT

Good bye Colorado, it has been great. I'm starting my drive to the Pacific Northwest, nothing like 20 hours in my truck! Can't wait though, start on Monday at Microsoft, should be exciting. I am going to miss Val and Hayden the next couple weeks, but the good news is that we have a contract on our house so they will be joining me very soon!!!

Christmas already?!?

Thu, 13 Oct 2005 02:18:23 GMT

Ok, so on one of my 50 trips to Home Depot (gotta love working on a house), I noticed that they were already had Christmas decorations for sale. You know those damn white wicker reindeer that people put in their yards. Ok, it is not even Halloween yet, and they have Christmas stuff out already. Didn't stores used to wait till after Thanksgiving to put Christmas decorations out? Next thing you know they will be selling decorations on July 5th...

bah...humbug...

Big Ben Out, like the Power

Tue, 11 Oct 2005 15:40:13 GMT

I just got done reading the highlights from last night's game between the Steelers and the Chargers. What a game, but since I did not get to see it all since the power went out about 5 minutes into the second half, I had to read what happen this morning.

It does not look good for Ben, went out with a knee injury, and we now need to rely on Charlie Batch, since Maddox got hurt in practice the other day. Well I hope Batch can lead the team, Roethlisberger had really done a great job leading the team even though he is 23 years old.

Officially Unemployed

Sat, 08 Oct 2005 02:00:23 GMT

Today was my last day at CSS, so I guess I am officially unemployed, well for two weeks that is. Then I head up to the Pacific Northwest and start my new position at Microsoft. It was sad leaving CSS today, I've made some great friends there over the last 4 1/2 years. But on to new adventures...

...And back to working on the house, we will be done with the bathroom this weekend. So the house will be ready to go on the market Monday next week, wish us luck, I hope it sells fast!

Selling a house sucks

Mon, 03 Oct 2005 14:24:41 GMT

What a weekend. Since we are getting ready to move, the last two weekends have been nothing but getting our current home ready to put on the market. Since I am terrible procrastinator about big home projects, I'm paying for it now. Last weekend was gutting our master bath, this weekend was full with hanging tile, in the shower, and a new tile floor. I got most of the tiling done, still have to grout, which I hate.

Val's parents came up to help again, it was great, Val got some painting done, and with their help, got the yard cleaned up, and several other projects done. So as soon as we get the house exactly like we want it, it will be time to sell it, but I guess that's the way it goes. I hope our next home in Seattle does not have work for me for awhile, but I am sure it will.

Big News

Tue, 27 Sep 2005 02:23:00 GMT

Well today it is official, I am going to work for Microsoft! I will be a Program Manager on the Visual Studio Team Architect group. Val and I are very excited about this new opportunity, but at the same time, sad to leave our friends behind in Colorado.

It was also sad to resign from my current job at CSS, it has been the place that I have worked the longest and really learned a lot and made some great friends. I wish the best to all of my co-workers at CSS, and of course will stay in touch, since they will be one of my customers

I hope they get better

Thu, 22 Sep 2005 16:51:24 GMT

I finally got to watch Bound for Glory last night, and I have to say I am a little embarrassed by how Montour Football looks. Now I have to give them a break, and hope they turn things around with all the help they are getting.

PDC05: Heading Home

Fri, 16 Sep 2005 18:40:50 GMT

Well the PDC is just about over. It was a great time, and learned a ton. Wanted to thank all of the staff of the PDC, they did a great job this year, most sessions did not have an issue with being way too full. And the organizers did a great job keeping things flowing.

Now I need to figure out if I can get Vista working on my new home PC, it way too cool to have to wait till they release it in a year.

PDC05: Workflow as Services

Fri, 16 Sep 2005 00:19:31 GMT

Just got out of Don Box and Dharmon Shikla's presentation on Workflow + Messaging + Services, great presentation. And the new Workflow Framework (WWF) that Microsoft is working on will make it so easy to build long running "Transactions" inside our enterprise applications. One of the coolest things, is the Workflow designer will create XAML files and can be edited after deployment, by business people.

PDC05 Update

Wed, 14 Sep 2005 21:02:16 GMT

Well the PDC has been very cool so far, kicked off yesterday with Bill G's and Jim Allchin's keynotes, Vista is looking great, and Office '12' is really going to be cool. Today has been very cool also, during today's group session got to get a preview of the new workflow framework that Microsoft is working on. Looks like it is something that we will be able to take advantage of in our application when it become available.

Last night we went to the Exhibit Party, got tons of free tee shirts, and a few too many beers. Tonight's the big party at Universal Studios, should be a great time.