Back in the saddle....and local .NET usergroups
Having a child really pulls your life for a loop. I decided to head back to school for my Master's as well. Time just got sucked up quickly.
I'm excited for the new Indigo technologies Microsoft has to offer after learning of the changes through an excellent presentation by Dave Bettin. Our local .NET users group is a great place to meet others active in the community and to learn about exciting implementations and upcoming .NET developments. I think it's great that Microsoft is so willing to keep in touch with the community by providing individuals to come out and speak about upcoming features of products and other .NET topics.
Speaking of other .NET topics, I've convinced management to deploy SQL Server Reporting Services (which is awesome, btw). Moving from Crystal Reports (and Oracle reports) to SQL Server Reporting Services seems to be cake so far. It was easy convincing management since it was a) free b) easy to learn c) installed with no issues and d) didn't chew up tons of system resources (just look at the specs required). Oh, did I mention that since it's in a universal format (RDL), that the Oracle reports are easy to move to SQL Server Reporting Services? Thanks Microsoft!