July 2004 - Posts

Writing a Longhorn Book
27 July 04 03:42 PM | jld | 1 comment(s)

I'm currently writing a book for Wiley Publishing on Longhorn. Writing a book is definitely an exciting and challenging process. You know you are a technical writer when:

  • You have to visit a professional photographer to get new head shots
  • Your desktop is overrun with templates, code snippets & Word documents.  
  • You are running way too much software at once (in my case, several versions of Longhorn, VPC & Whidbey)
  • Sleep is something you don't get much of
  • Your five o'clock shadow is now a beard
  • Your loved ones are constantly reminding you to step outside and take a break

(Last updated: October 2nd, 2004)

Notarizing U.S. Documents in Toronto
20 July 04 02:08 AM | jld | 1 comment(s)

A few days ago, I had to get some documentation notarized by a U.S. Notary Public. Not an easy task since I'm based in Toronto, Canada - I fully expected that the process would be expensive and difficult. 

I started an exhaustive search for places I could get a document notarized. I called Canadian notaries, the United States Embassy in Ottawa...you name it. I even considered going to Buffalo by car to get that darn document notarized!

Fortunately, I discovered that the U.S. Consulate General near University & Dundas offers notary services for $30 USD. I had to wait in line, go through an airport-style security check (you are not allowed to bring in any electronics in there including a cellphone), take a number and wait several hours in an area that reminded me of a doctor's office.

Just thought I would share in case anyone ends up in the same predicament. 

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Starting a new Toronto IT User Group
10 July 04 04:36 AM | jld | with no comments

I've recently started working with with a group of talented people (including Microsoft MVPs) to build a Toronto based user group focusing on Microsoft Servers. The idea came about during conversations I've had with staff and attendees at the TechNet Spring Tour 2004 in Toronto. The purpose of the user group is to bring together IT Professionals in the area to network, talk about the products and help each other.

A few years ago, I used to work as a server & tech support helpdesk guru for a couple of small companies in downtown Toronto. One of the major highlights of that experience was actually the after-hour activities: a bunch of techies informally meeting at coffee houses, fast food restaurants, swap meets and conventions to talk about hardware, technology, security, the industry. You name it. It was a great learning experience and the networking opportunities were amazing. I'd like to bring some of that to the user group.

The group is still in it's development stages. Our target is to hold our first meeting in the Fall and set up a new
website in the near future. I'd like to thank Microsoft TechNet Canada for being super supportive. The project is really starting to take off in a great way. :-)

If you would like to participate as a Community Leader or simply attend these meetings please send an email to dotnetmvp@hotmail.com. Or feel free to post in the feedback area of this weblog entry. I'll keep you all in the loop.  


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Noah's joining the Team System Product Group
06 July 04 08:08 PM | jld | 1 comment(s)
My good friend and colleague Noah Coad will be joining the VSTS team as a Program Manager! I also read a write up on Rob Caron's weblog

In his farewell message, Noah posted “Well I've taken the red pill, gone blue card, lost my MVP status, been assimilated into the collective, and joined Microsoft!

If any of you have seen the infamous BillG/SteveB Matrix parody, you'll understand why Noah picked the red pill over the blue pill.

Congrats Noah!
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Longhorn Beta & Whidbey
05 July 04 02:25 AM | jld | with no comments

From the Longhorn newsgroups, I just found out from Ed Kaim that “The plan of record is to have a corresponding build of VS for future Longhorn releases”. This includes the forthcoming Longhorn Beta. That's great news in my books - I don't mind building Longhorn apps using MSBuild (the current WinHEC build doesn't support any version of Whidbey - unless you hack the MSI file) but using a new VS build on a fresh new version of Longhorn will definitely be treat.

Visual Studio 2005 Beta now available on MSDN Subscriber Downloads
02 July 04 05:00 AM | jld | 1 comment(s)
FYI, I just visited the download site and it appears that the Beta has been released!
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Trading Weblogs?
02 July 04 04:43 AM | jld | 2 comment(s)

I just found out quite by accident that my weblog is currently worth $3,124.14 Blog Shares! This weblog has been listed on BlogShares.com, who are in their own words “a simulated, fantasy stock market for weblogs where players invest fictional money to buy stocks and bonds in an artificial economy where attention is the commodity and weblogs are the companies.” Cool.

I also stumbled onto a video of Don Box playing guitar with Pat Helland on vocals! Check it out on Channel 9 (fast becoming one of my favorite sites) 

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