I watched Return of the King with Elizabeth last night. She's such Lord of the Rings nut, she kept saying character's lines just before they said them. I really wish she wouldn't do that!
Anyway, I had some thoughts on the movie. It seems to me as though Frodo failed. Not only did he end up defeated by Shelob because he picked the wrong companion, but in the end he chose to keep the ring instead of destroying it. The ring was destroyed only because Gollum attacked him, beat him, then himself fell with the ring into the lava. Since Frodo had also tried to kill Gollum before and failed at that, there's a whole bunch of failure going on there, and it is merely good fortune that saved Middle Earth.
To me, the real hero is Sam. They gloss over it quickly in the movie, but he had been the Ringbearer for a time while Frodo was in the tower with the orcs. He kind of sold himself short when he decided it was too difficult for him and instead rescued Frodo, kept Frodo motivated, carried him bodily for a time, then urged him to follow through with the destruction of the ring at Mount Doom - oh, that's way easier! In fact, it's an interesting connection between Sam and Elrond. Both had been at that point with someone considering destroying the ring - Sam with Frodo, Elrond with Isildor.
I couldn't help, though, but ask one question about the decisions made by the heroes of the story. With giant eagles available, why didn't they fly the ring to Mount Doom? When the Eye of Sauron was fixed on Minas Tirith or some other spot of interest, couldn't Gandalf and a Ringbearer climb on the eagles and go straight in? The only airborne opposition was from the Nazgul, and Gandalf demonstrated in his covering of Faramir's retreat from the orcs that he was able to keep Nazgul at bay. Granted, it would be a much shorter story, but I'd be interested to hear why that wasn't an option, not even one discussed and discarded by the Fellowship.
Sunday, May 30, 2004
Teleportation Begins in Airport Security
I don't know how long it will before we have working teleportation for people, but it occurred to me as I went through airport security yesterday that the most common theory about how teleportation would work is already being demonstrated right there, albeit inefficiently and in slow motion.
As you enter airport security, you begin to be broken down into separate components. Your shoes come off, your carry-on items are removed, belts, change, keys are all separated from your person. Laptops get broken out further into their own area of categorization. Then, all these separate parts get put through a machine that analyzes their contents and delivers the component parts to the far end. Finally, all those pieces are reassembled at the far end as a complete traveler. Viola! Teleportation!
The only real difference is how much the traveler is broken down and how quickly the material is transferred. At least, that's my theory.
As you enter airport security, you begin to be broken down into separate components. Your shoes come off, your carry-on items are removed, belts, change, keys are all separated from your person. Laptops get broken out further into their own area of categorization. Then, all these separate parts get put through a machine that analyzes their contents and delivers the component parts to the far end. Finally, all those pieces are reassembled at the far end as a complete traveler. Viola! Teleportation!
The only real difference is how much the traveler is broken down and how quickly the material is transferred. At least, that's my theory.
Saturday, May 29, 2004
Is it Work or is it Pleasure?
I'm in San Diego (still) and sitting in a bar called Mahoney's on F Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. I'm plugged into a wall socket for power, so I'm in no danger of running out of battery, which for some reason is the greatest concern I have at the moment. (Very nice!) There's a Starbucks next door, and I can get a connection via T-Mobile, so I've bought a DayPass for my internet access. I needed to get to my workstation and the corporate network back at Microsoft, but fortunately, I have a smart card reader and a smart card and thought ahead enough to get the remote access stuff installed.
So, what am I doing with that, besides adding to my blog? Well, there were some updates I had to submit regarding projects at work that really needed to be in tonight. And there was a bit of email to reply to, including one sent to me at 2:30pm requesting a 5pm the same day reply (what were they thinking?) But you know, it didn't seem so bad doing the work, since I was able to have dinner and some drinks at the same time.
I'm now thinking that Ram and I should hold our weekly manager/direct report 1:1 meetings in the evenings at a local hotspot or something. I've had no problem getting quite a bit of work done, and have enjoyed it a lot more. I'm on to something here! Maybe I should just stay in this bar indefinately, and attend meetings via phone. I wonder how long it would take before anyone realized I never came in the office? I should ask Robert - he's never in the office, for real.
So, what am I doing with that, besides adding to my blog? Well, there were some updates I had to submit regarding projects at work that really needed to be in tonight. And there was a bit of email to reply to, including one sent to me at 2:30pm requesting a 5pm the same day reply (what were they thinking?) But you know, it didn't seem so bad doing the work, since I was able to have dinner and some drinks at the same time.
I'm now thinking that Ram and I should hold our weekly manager/direct report 1:1 meetings in the evenings at a local hotspot or something. I've had no problem getting quite a bit of work done, and have enjoyed it a lot more. I'm on to something here! Maybe I should just stay in this bar indefinately, and attend meetings via phone. I wonder how long it would take before anyone realized I never came in the office? I should ask Robert - he's never in the office, for real.
Friday, May 28, 2004
The Day After Tomorrow
I went to see this movie today. It was only so-so, and there were quite a few points where the deeply liberal slant, the global warming lecture, and the obvious symbolism of the casting was annoying.
The guy cast as the president had a look that was an interesting combination of Bush and Gore. I think he looked more like Gore than Bush, but still I think his look had a lot to do with his casting.
The vice president casting was even more targeted, as that character is more important to the plot and had a lot more screen time. Apparently, they held a Dick Cheney look-alike contest, and this guy won. I can just imagine the glee that the writer and director felt putting a Cheney-like actor on the screen and have him act kind of like a jerk for quite some time. In my opinion, he was making sensible choices and merely ended up being faced with unexpected results, unexpected even to the heroic climatologist protagonist, but I doubt that was there intention. When later in the movie, the vice president gets on the TV and says the words, "I was wrong..." I could almost hear the cheering from the writer and director.
I have far less tolerance for these "agenda" movies than I used to when I was, how shall I say it, less politically aware? I had a vague idea that there was an agenda planned for this one before I went in, so I had mentally prepared myself to ignore that aspect and just enjoy the disaster movie, special effects aspects instead. Knowing ahead of time, it kind of worked, too. Except perhaps this blog entry speaks to the contrary.
The guy cast as the president had a look that was an interesting combination of Bush and Gore. I think he looked more like Gore than Bush, but still I think his look had a lot to do with his casting.
The vice president casting was even more targeted, as that character is more important to the plot and had a lot more screen time. Apparently, they held a Dick Cheney look-alike contest, and this guy won. I can just imagine the glee that the writer and director felt putting a Cheney-like actor on the screen and have him act kind of like a jerk for quite some time. In my opinion, he was making sensible choices and merely ended up being faced with unexpected results, unexpected even to the heroic climatologist protagonist, but I doubt that was there intention. When later in the movie, the vice president gets on the TV and says the words, "I was wrong..." I could almost hear the cheering from the writer and director.
I have far less tolerance for these "agenda" movies than I used to when I was, how shall I say it, less politically aware? I had a vague idea that there was an agenda planned for this one before I went in, so I had mentally prepared myself to ignore that aspect and just enjoy the disaster movie, special effects aspects instead. Knowing ahead of time, it kind of worked, too. Except perhaps this blog entry speaks to the contrary.
Thursday, May 27, 2004
Low Carb at TechEd
I'm very impressed! They finally have Atkins snacks on the snack tables at TechEd!
Olympia's New Job
Olympia (my wife, for those readers that may not yet be aware) has just been offered a job by the American Red Cross. It turns out that she'll be getting more salary at this job than any she's previously had. It's also a mix of work that's perfect for her - 25% research, 75% administrative.
I'm really happy for her and proud of her for getting a quality job so quickly. I felt confident she would, and it's great that my confidence in her abilities was so right on target.
Obviously, her taking a job, especially this particular job for reasons I won't get into right now and after so many years at home focused on raising our children, will mean some significant changes to our lives. I'm sure we'll work through them, but it's certainly true that even good changes cause stress.
I'm really happy for her and proud of her for getting a quality job so quickly. I felt confident she would, and it's great that my confidence in her abilities was so right on target.
Obviously, her taking a job, especially this particular job for reasons I won't get into right now and after so many years at home focused on raising our children, will mean some significant changes to our lives. I'm sure we'll work through them, but it's certainly true that even good changes cause stress.
BoardGameGeek
BoardGameGeek - Serving the Board Game Hobby Since 2000
I met Ted today, who is from the Massachussetts Medical Society. We got onto the topic of how I know Roberto, my good friend who works at Microsoft as a technical strategist for the healthcare vertical. Roberto and I know each other because we live two blocks from one another and share an interest in strategy board games. So it occurred to me that my blog should reference this Board Game Geek site, as it is one of the best resources for information on strategy board games.
Playing these games, as a hobby, has taken over for my previous obsession with tabletop miniature war games. The lower preparation time was the deciding factor. I just haven't the time to assemble and paint miniatures, and unpainted miniatures are no fun to play with. Miniature games are also notoriously difficult to coordinate with the casual gamer.
I met Ted today, who is from the Massachussetts Medical Society. We got onto the topic of how I know Roberto, my good friend who works at Microsoft as a technical strategist for the healthcare vertical. Roberto and I know each other because we live two blocks from one another and share an interest in strategy board games. So it occurred to me that my blog should reference this Board Game Geek site, as it is one of the best resources for information on strategy board games.
Playing these games, as a hobby, has taken over for my previous obsession with tabletop miniature war games. The lower preparation time was the deciding factor. I just haven't the time to assemble and paint miniatures, and unpainted miniatures are no fun to play with. Miniature games are also notoriously difficult to coordinate with the casual gamer.
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
Living Forever
KurzweilAI.net
I have not yet read the articles on this quoted page, but I did go to a presentation given by Ray Kurzweil, on whose site this appears. In essence, advances in biotechnology and nanotechnology should mean that immortality is within the grasp of most of us alive today. He said himself that at 58 years old, he's doing everything he can to make sure he's still around in the relatively short number of years remaining before the dream of no more natural death is made reality. Since I'm 35, I should be able to make it if he even has a chance.
I have, since I was a child, had the affirmation (although not until recently expressed exactly this way) "I will live to a least 100 years old." This has always been believable to me as a goal, as there's a history of longevity in my recent ancestry. My great-grandmother lived to 99 years old. Her daughter, my grandmother, is 96 and still going, although with certain health problems.
After Kurzweil's talk, however, I now have a new affirmation that has replaced the other. Here it is: "I will live as long as I want." Incredible as it may sound this is at least 50% believable to me. It helps that I had already read some science fiction that suggested many of the same advances that Kurzweil now describes as either in the design phase or even further along. Also, his arguments regarding the well-documented exponential growth in life expectancy and advances in technology strongly support his assertions.
What's also amazing is the mental benefits this has already given me. I feel somehow more patient. I feel I have time. It doesnt mean I won't work hard or work quickly to accomplish things, it just means that for the bigger picture, changes don't seem so final. For example, choices to not live near someone I love and would see all the time have always seemed tragic to me. If I reduce my opportunities for interaction to twice a year, and we were to both have another fifty years to be alive and able to meet, that means that every visit is 1% of the total time we'll spend together. 1% a pop is a lot to me. Now I can enjoy it more, relieved of the anxiety of thinking, "Oh, this time is so precious that I must get all I can from it! Why I am not doing more, I'm wasting deeply valuable seconds!" There's a feeling of "Ahhhh.... relax and enjoy." It took this to realize that I was constantly nagged by the inevitability of death.
So, with that, I encourage any readers of my blog to also explore a rapidly coming world free of the fetters of time that Ray Kurzweil and his peers suggest is at hand.
I have not yet read the articles on this quoted page, but I did go to a presentation given by Ray Kurzweil, on whose site this appears. In essence, advances in biotechnology and nanotechnology should mean that immortality is within the grasp of most of us alive today. He said himself that at 58 years old, he's doing everything he can to make sure he's still around in the relatively short number of years remaining before the dream of no more natural death is made reality. Since I'm 35, I should be able to make it if he even has a chance.
I have, since I was a child, had the affirmation (although not until recently expressed exactly this way) "I will live to a least 100 years old." This has always been believable to me as a goal, as there's a history of longevity in my recent ancestry. My great-grandmother lived to 99 years old. Her daughter, my grandmother, is 96 and still going, although with certain health problems.
After Kurzweil's talk, however, I now have a new affirmation that has replaced the other. Here it is: "I will live as long as I want." Incredible as it may sound this is at least 50% believable to me. It helps that I had already read some science fiction that suggested many of the same advances that Kurzweil now describes as either in the design phase or even further along. Also, his arguments regarding the well-documented exponential growth in life expectancy and advances in technology strongly support his assertions.
What's also amazing is the mental benefits this has already given me. I feel somehow more patient. I feel I have time. It doesnt mean I won't work hard or work quickly to accomplish things, it just means that for the bigger picture, changes don't seem so final. For example, choices to not live near someone I love and would see all the time have always seemed tragic to me. If I reduce my opportunities for interaction to twice a year, and we were to both have another fifty years to be alive and able to meet, that means that every visit is 1% of the total time we'll spend together. 1% a pop is a lot to me. Now I can enjoy it more, relieved of the anxiety of thinking, "Oh, this time is so precious that I must get all I can from it! Why I am not doing more, I'm wasting deeply valuable seconds!" There's a feeling of "Ahhhh.... relax and enjoy." It took this to realize that I was constantly nagged by the inevitability of death.
So, with that, I encourage any readers of my blog to also explore a rapidly coming world free of the fetters of time that Ray Kurzweil and his peers suggest is at hand.
What's with the POLITICS: tag?
I've started adding POLITICS: to the titles of my posts where I talk about political stuff. Since politics, like religion, is an area where people generally are not easily swayed from their position and can even get pretty angry, I figured I'd put a friendly warning to those who don't want to see posts about mine. So, if you have no interest in my generally very conservative viewpoints, you should probably skip those posts.
POLITICS: NY Times Says It Fell for Iraq Misinformation
Yahoo! News - NY Times Says It Fell for Iraq Misinformation
That stuff I said about USA Today? It goes double for the New York Times. 'We were misled!' Of course the NYT will say that, when it is damaging to a Republican. Feh!
That stuff I said about USA Today? It goes double for the New York Times. 'We were misled!' Of course the NYT will say that, when it is damaging to a Republican. Feh!
POLITICS: USA Today
As I mentioned yesterday, I have something to say about this paper. Talk about liberal media bias! I am getting USA Today deposited at my room at the Sheraton every morning, and like driving by an auto accident, I can't help but look. This paper is awful.
Monday, the front page above the fold was dedicated to a "human interest" story about Teresa Heinz. To me, it looked like nothing other than a Kerry campaign ad, telling us how great it would be to have Heinz as our first lady. Meanwhile, the lead-up to Bush's statements on our ongoing mission in Iraq was below the fold.
Yesterday, the majority of the front page above the fold was dedicated to catastrophizing about the state of assisted living. You'd think that every senior in America was about to die, alone and unwanted, in profiteering, emotionless cell blocks only thinkly veiled as sensitive homes. At the right was a sidebar laying out Bush's five part plan for Iraq. Around it, an article included results of a Bush confidence poll, of course taken over the weekend, when it is a well established fact that weekend polls favor Democrats. They also reported a 67% majority of Americans believe Bush has no clear plan for Iraq, a statistic displayed not even two column inches below Bush's clear plan for Iraq.
Today's paper, I only glanced at. More assisted living catastrophizing. How awful that it's such important news that it has to be on the front page above the fold for two days running.
Perhaps needless to say, this is a paper that will never get a dime of money if I can help it.
Monday, the front page above the fold was dedicated to a "human interest" story about Teresa Heinz. To me, it looked like nothing other than a Kerry campaign ad, telling us how great it would be to have Heinz as our first lady. Meanwhile, the lead-up to Bush's statements on our ongoing mission in Iraq was below the fold.
Yesterday, the majority of the front page above the fold was dedicated to catastrophizing about the state of assisted living. You'd think that every senior in America was about to die, alone and unwanted, in profiteering, emotionless cell blocks only thinkly veiled as sensitive homes. At the right was a sidebar laying out Bush's five part plan for Iraq. Around it, an article included results of a Bush confidence poll, of course taken over the weekend, when it is a well established fact that weekend polls favor Democrats. They also reported a 67% majority of Americans believe Bush has no clear plan for Iraq, a statistic displayed not even two column inches below Bush's clear plan for Iraq.
Today's paper, I only glanced at. More assisted living catastrophizing. How awful that it's such important news that it has to be on the front page above the fold for two days running.
Perhaps needless to say, this is a paper that will never get a dime of money if I can help it.
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
Tuesday Afternoon, TechEd
Well, I lost my Monday afternoon post due to a network connection loss right after I hit the Publish button. I guess as long as I'm on the spotty wireless network that's in at least some places at the San Diego Convention Center, I'll drop a copy of the post into Notepad until I've actually posted.
I'm sitting in on a session on using PayPal via web services. It's a fairly interesting topic, although the presentation is a little slow. I didn't actually care about most of the history of PayPal section, and frankly already knew most of it. This is also being held in a "cabana", which means it's in a huge room with sound baffle walls on two sides. The acoustics are terrible.
I went to a session on the Microsoft CRM SDK yesterday. That one was very interesting and moved along just fine. What's particularly interesting to me is that the stuff I had set up for Gryphon, my association management system I'd sold to a few customers in Maryland and DC, was structure very similarly, although of course not taken as far, as I had nowhere near the resources that Great Plains has. That's twice I've been ahead of the game with an idea on how to build a technology solution, but was unable to be the one to cash in big on it. Granted, I cashed in some, so it's not all bad, and there's plenty of time to have more good ideas. Anyway, if I were to ever go back to developing solutions for small to medium size business, say a relaunch of Heatherstone Digital ("Building connections through technology"), I would probably rewrite Gryphon to use Microsoft CRM under the covers. Hmmm....
I was going to attend another session today on CRM, but it was cancelled. Instead, I just stayed in the same room where they had a presentation on Crystal Reports. It's come a long way since the last time I looked at it, and incorporating such reports into an online solutions seems like a good way to do it.
We held our focus group on community strategy last night, and I think it went very well. In fact, as I've been sitting in this session, one of the attendees from last night is also here, and as he passed by me, he shook my hand and told me it was a great session and he appreciated the opportunity to be a part of the discussion. That's pretty gratifying, exactly what makes me tick. The strategy as prepared and presented last night was very well received. I think we're on the right track. There were a couple points when a customer would bring up a point - for example, when one of them asked for us to take the ResKit and turn it into a community source or open source project - that exactly matched things that are currently proposed internally and merely await a go-ahead and funding. I couldn't have coached them to say it better.
We have another focus group tonight, this time on the Zephyr project, which is all about methods of receiving feedback. There's three pillars: verbatim product feedback (my area), feedback on content (also called documentation, although internally they for some reason insist on calling it content), and automated server feedback. That last is a beefing up of the Watson channel with data beyond crashes and hangs, including things like server roles and instrumentation. I'm interested to see how this goes.
I developed a new model last night of how customers go for help. First, they do a search. Almost always, this is via Google. No one seems to trust Microsoft's search, and I can't blame them - I don't either. Then, they go to loosely structured methods for getting help, such as posting to a newsgroup or web forum. [As an aside, the presenter just said, "We have about ten minutes left, so let's talk about PayPal Web Services," which was the advertised point of this session. Seems like poor planning.] I call this loosely structured, because it's basically just a post into some kind of threaded discussion with a subject and a block of body text. The information provided to the potential respondent is only whatever the person seeking help puts in without any particular prompting or guidance. If, after some period of time and assuming such a place is available, the customer would go to structured help, where they are prompted for particular types of information to make sure the request is complete. For example, a place like that would ask for things like OS, product, version, steps to reproduce, and so on. Finally, at some point, if no answer is forthcoming, they'll go to a fee-based solution, such as calling Microsoft PSS, where they have a very structured and interactive process for gathering needed information and a well-established and committed service level agreement. So again, that's search, loosely structured discussions, strongly structured discussions, and pay for help.
How customers submit ideas for improvement works the same way, except for the final step, as people don't pay to give suggestions. It sure would be great if they did, but let's get real.
So, community is the second step and the usual source for the first (search.) The verbatim product feedback pillar of Zephyr is an effort to provide the third step. Today, I think there is no strongly structured opportunity that includes Microsoft participation, and that's a step that's sorely needed.
I had some comments on a totally different subject, that is, what I think of the last couple of days of USA Today, which is delivered to my hotel room daily. I have a meeting shortly, though, so I'll save that one for later.
I'm sitting in on a session on using PayPal via web services. It's a fairly interesting topic, although the presentation is a little slow. I didn't actually care about most of the history of PayPal section, and frankly already knew most of it. This is also being held in a "cabana", which means it's in a huge room with sound baffle walls on two sides. The acoustics are terrible.
I went to a session on the Microsoft CRM SDK yesterday. That one was very interesting and moved along just fine. What's particularly interesting to me is that the stuff I had set up for Gryphon, my association management system I'd sold to a few customers in Maryland and DC, was structure very similarly, although of course not taken as far, as I had nowhere near the resources that Great Plains has. That's twice I've been ahead of the game with an idea on how to build a technology solution, but was unable to be the one to cash in big on it. Granted, I cashed in some, so it's not all bad, and there's plenty of time to have more good ideas. Anyway, if I were to ever go back to developing solutions for small to medium size business, say a relaunch of Heatherstone Digital ("Building connections through technology"), I would probably rewrite Gryphon to use Microsoft CRM under the covers. Hmmm....
I was going to attend another session today on CRM, but it was cancelled. Instead, I just stayed in the same room where they had a presentation on Crystal Reports. It's come a long way since the last time I looked at it, and incorporating such reports into an online solutions seems like a good way to do it.
We held our focus group on community strategy last night, and I think it went very well. In fact, as I've been sitting in this session, one of the attendees from last night is also here, and as he passed by me, he shook my hand and told me it was a great session and he appreciated the opportunity to be a part of the discussion. That's pretty gratifying, exactly what makes me tick. The strategy as prepared and presented last night was very well received. I think we're on the right track. There were a couple points when a customer would bring up a point - for example, when one of them asked for us to take the ResKit and turn it into a community source or open source project - that exactly matched things that are currently proposed internally and merely await a go-ahead and funding. I couldn't have coached them to say it better.
We have another focus group tonight, this time on the Zephyr project, which is all about methods of receiving feedback. There's three pillars: verbatim product feedback (my area), feedback on content (also called documentation, although internally they for some reason insist on calling it content), and automated server feedback. That last is a beefing up of the Watson channel with data beyond crashes and hangs, including things like server roles and instrumentation. I'm interested to see how this goes.
I developed a new model last night of how customers go for help. First, they do a search. Almost always, this is via Google. No one seems to trust Microsoft's search, and I can't blame them - I don't either. Then, they go to loosely structured methods for getting help, such as posting to a newsgroup or web forum. [As an aside, the presenter just said, "We have about ten minutes left, so let's talk about PayPal Web Services," which was the advertised point of this session. Seems like poor planning.] I call this loosely structured, because it's basically just a post into some kind of threaded discussion with a subject and a block of body text. The information provided to the potential respondent is only whatever the person seeking help puts in without any particular prompting or guidance. If, after some period of time and assuming such a place is available, the customer would go to structured help, where they are prompted for particular types of information to make sure the request is complete. For example, a place like that would ask for things like OS, product, version, steps to reproduce, and so on. Finally, at some point, if no answer is forthcoming, they'll go to a fee-based solution, such as calling Microsoft PSS, where they have a very structured and interactive process for gathering needed information and a well-established and committed service level agreement. So again, that's search, loosely structured discussions, strongly structured discussions, and pay for help.
How customers submit ideas for improvement works the same way, except for the final step, as people don't pay to give suggestions. It sure would be great if they did, but let's get real.
So, community is the second step and the usual source for the first (search.) The verbatim product feedback pillar of Zephyr is an effort to provide the third step. Today, I think there is no strongly structured opportunity that includes Microsoft participation, and that's a step that's sorely needed.
I had some comments on a totally different subject, that is, what I think of the last couple of days of USA Today, which is delivered to my hotel room daily. I have a meeting shortly, though, so I'll save that one for later.
Monday, May 24, 2004
At TechEd 2004
Right at the moment, I'm at TechEd in San Diego. I just saw Steve Ballmer's keynote, and now I'm in a session on advanced T-SQL in SQL Server 2005. Already very interesting, as it will add functions for row numbering, ranks, dense ranks and ntiles. Very cool, as this has been a sticky problem in SQL Server 2000 and prior, while ORACLE has at least row numbering built-in. I continue to feel that SQL Server is the coolest product Microsoft makes, at least outside the games group.
Now the speaker is talking about pivots. Another awesome thing. This is taking normalized data and turning it to a denormalized table or the reverse (which is unpivot.) [I hope I have that description right - if I don't, and you read this, please comment and correct me.] What's nice, is that the speaker is showing how to do these things in SQL Server 2000, not just saying, "Hey, next year you'll be able to do this stuff, but until then you're out of luck."
One problem at TechEd I've already seen is that access to my email has been impossible. Neither RPC over HTTP via Outlook 2003 nor Outlook Web Access has been available. I was concerned that it was just me, as I only recently got this laptop and set up my remote access stuff just before heading out the door, leaving it untested as I arrived onsite, but then I saw another Microsoft employee struggling with the same problem. This is broken, so I hope it will be fixed soon. I was coming to a session, but my coworker was headed to the cabana area to see if he could get some help. The "networking angels" in the wireless lounges apparently weren't trained for fixing that kind of problem. I guess later I can always try calling the help desk. This hasn't stopped me from getting to the internet, as you can see. If nothing else, I guess I'll pay the $10 for hotel room internet access tonight.
Getting down here turned out to be some ordeal. The plane was delayed 50 minutes in Seattle. A half-hour after take off, they were looking for a doctor or nurse on the flight to help a passenger. Another half-hour and we were headed to Reno, Nevada to take the ill passenger off the flight. While in Reno, a couple of wealthy but obnoxious guys in first class apparently got "unruly" enough that the flight crew had them removed from the plane. There's a lot of paperwork for removing passengers under any circumstances, plus there's the whole new flight plan to get filed, so we were in Reno for quite a while. I ended up arriving in San Diego three hours later than planned. While I was able to meet my friend Roberto and his family for dinner Saturday night, that was about all I was able to do while hoping for something more than that.
Sunday was interesting. I started by trying to wander around and meet IT professionals I could recruit to come to our focus groups on Monday and Tuesday nights. I manage to meet quite a few in the morning. Later, I took a break and went with Roberto and family to the San Diego zoo. That would have been better if I'd been wearing sneakers instead of new dress shoes. By the end of the day, my dogs were barkin'! In the evening, I met with a number of people from the San Francisco NT Users Group, including the user group president, Doug Spindler. That was a good time and it was great to meet a bunch of our customers. I think I recruited all of them to come to at least one of the focus groups, which is good since I got stuck with the dinner bill. People have no problem asking for the Microsoft guy to pay, which I guess is to be expected. Hopefully, "increasing customer satisfaction, one meal at a time" will be acceptable when I submit my expense report.
Some of the SQL topics are getting ever more interesting, so I'm going pay even more attention and stop blogging. Surely more later, even today.
Now the speaker is talking about pivots. Another awesome thing. This is taking normalized data and turning it to a denormalized table or the reverse (which is unpivot.) [I hope I have that description right - if I don't, and you read this, please comment and correct me.] What's nice, is that the speaker is showing how to do these things in SQL Server 2000, not just saying, "Hey, next year you'll be able to do this stuff, but until then you're out of luck."
One problem at TechEd I've already seen is that access to my email has been impossible. Neither RPC over HTTP via Outlook 2003 nor Outlook Web Access has been available. I was concerned that it was just me, as I only recently got this laptop and set up my remote access stuff just before heading out the door, leaving it untested as I arrived onsite, but then I saw another Microsoft employee struggling with the same problem. This is broken, so I hope it will be fixed soon. I was coming to a session, but my coworker was headed to the cabana area to see if he could get some help. The "networking angels" in the wireless lounges apparently weren't trained for fixing that kind of problem. I guess later I can always try calling the help desk. This hasn't stopped me from getting to the internet, as you can see. If nothing else, I guess I'll pay the $10 for hotel room internet access tonight.
Getting down here turned out to be some ordeal. The plane was delayed 50 minutes in Seattle. A half-hour after take off, they were looking for a doctor or nurse on the flight to help a passenger. Another half-hour and we were headed to Reno, Nevada to take the ill passenger off the flight. While in Reno, a couple of wealthy but obnoxious guys in first class apparently got "unruly" enough that the flight crew had them removed from the plane. There's a lot of paperwork for removing passengers under any circumstances, plus there's the whole new flight plan to get filed, so we were in Reno for quite a while. I ended up arriving in San Diego three hours later than planned. While I was able to meet my friend Roberto and his family for dinner Saturday night, that was about all I was able to do while hoping for something more than that.
Sunday was interesting. I started by trying to wander around and meet IT professionals I could recruit to come to our focus groups on Monday and Tuesday nights. I manage to meet quite a few in the morning. Later, I took a break and went with Roberto and family to the San Diego zoo. That would have been better if I'd been wearing sneakers instead of new dress shoes. By the end of the day, my dogs were barkin'! In the evening, I met with a number of people from the San Francisco NT Users Group, including the user group president, Doug Spindler. That was a good time and it was great to meet a bunch of our customers. I think I recruited all of them to come to at least one of the focus groups, which is good since I got stuck with the dinner bill. People have no problem asking for the Microsoft guy to pay, which I guess is to be expected. Hopefully, "increasing customer satisfaction, one meal at a time" will be acceptable when I submit my expense report.
Some of the SQL topics are getting ever more interesting, so I'm going pay even more attention and stop blogging. Surely more later, even today.
Saturday, May 22, 2004
POLITICS: New Zealand
Hillsdale College
While I'm blogging about particular sites, I want to call out this article about New Zealand and the things they've done there to shrink government, expand the economy, and generally get their house in order. Reading this article has so impressed me and made me feel as though we could do that in the US, too, if only we could get the right people in power. Or, maybe I should move to New Zealand!
While I'm blogging about particular sites, I want to call out this article about New Zealand and the things they've done there to shrink government, expand the economy, and generally get their house in order. Reading this article has so impressed me and made me feel as though we could do that in the US, too, if only we could get the right people in power. Or, maybe I should move to New Zealand!
David Allen's site
David Allen Getting Things Done: Time and stress management... how to be more productive and get the most out of your time and life
I mentioned David Allen in my last post. Here's a link to his website. I've read his book and been trying very hard to use his system for some time. I have times I'm better at it and times I'm not so good at it, but I definately see the value and recommend it highly.
I recently went to Cambridge, Massachussetts to attend his Leveraging Focus and Vision seminar. Again, something I highly recommend for anyone wishing to get their life in order and on track.
I mentioned David Allen in my last post. Here's a link to his website. I've read his book and been trying very hard to use his system for some time. I have times I'm better at it and times I'm not so good at it, but I definately see the value and recommend it highly.
I recently went to Cambridge, Massachussetts to attend his Leveraging Focus and Vision seminar. Again, something I highly recommend for anyone wishing to get their life in order and on track.
Ready Steady Go
There's a Paul Oakenfold mix called Ready Steady Go. I think I'm going to make that my anthem. As I get my stuff together for the trip to San Diego, I find myself also laying out a set of goals - things I want to do over the next week. Some of them are TechEd related, such as recruiting more people to come to our focus groups. Some of them are related to other work, like working with Chandana and Ram to come up with sample review goals people at Microsoft can use to guide their experiences in community participation over the next year. Some are personal, like I want to take some time to reflect on what affirmations I should consider to make the most important changes I desire in my life.
I've not used goal setting so much until coming to Microsoft. I did a little of it before, but I've really focused on this much more lately. That's good, because it works.
Affirmations is a different thing, and is the favorite method of David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, for focusing on the future. I still have to work on improving my ability to use affirmations. I want to spend a little time setting up my list of affirmations this next week. I'll probably share at least a few here on this blog.
I've not used goal setting so much until coming to Microsoft. I did a little of it before, but I've really focused on this much more lately. That's good, because it works.
Affirmations is a different thing, and is the favorite method of David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, for focusing on the future. I still have to work on improving my ability to use affirmations. I want to spend a little time setting up my list of affirmations this next week. I'll probably share at least a few here on this blog.
Friday, May 21, 2004
Begin Again
This is initial setup, so I'm not going to get into to much. I'm traveling tomorrow to Microsoft's TechEd, and I want to talk some about my experiences while I'm there. I also plan to spend a little private time in the evenings doing some hard thinking on purpose and plans, and I may post the results here, so it's good to have it set up.
I started a blog on LiveJournal, but haven't kept it up. I'm very interested, but this ability to do it through a web page seems somehow more likely that I'll puruse it. We shall see.
Now, some full disclosure. It's important to note that I am currently an employee at Microsoft. This blog may or may not touch on much of anything to do with technology or my job there, but just in case, the Microsoft disclosure is very important.
I started a blog on LiveJournal, but haven't kept it up. I'm very interested, but this ability to do it through a web page seems somehow more likely that I'll puruse it. We shall see.
Now, some full disclosure. It's important to note that I am currently an employee at Microsoft. This blog may or may not touch on much of anything to do with technology or my job there, but just in case, the Microsoft disclosure is very important.
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