March 2007 Entries

Blog Comments Not Working

Just wanted to say that currently comments for posts are not working.  I'm still trying to figure out what happened so bare with me as I get them back in working order. If you need to contact me, you can do so by email: javier (at) lozanotek (dot) com Thanks and sorry for the inconvenience!

posted @ Friday, March 30, 2007 10:28 PM | Feedback (619)

Dominic Turns A Year Old

That's right, my son Dominic turns a year old!!  Well, his actual birthday was yesterday (3/28) but we were pretty busy going to the zoo and getting him presents that I couldn't blog about it.  It's really hard to believe that a year has passed by.  As you can see by the pictures below, a lot has changed with him: Dominic 1 Year Dominic 6 Months Dominic 1 Day Dominic 9 Months Dominic 3 Months Dominic In Utero Christa and I are very proud...

posted @ Thursday, March 29, 2007 2:00 PM | Feedback (611)

Microsoft Acquires TeamPlain

I know this is old news, but I'm extatic that Microsoft has acquired DevBiz and consequently, TeamPlain for TFS.  You can read more about it over at Brian Harry's blog. Back when I was evaluating TFS for work, I installed TeamPlain and was pretty amazed what the application did.  Back then, the licensing was ~$100 per client, but now that MS has acquired it, it's now FR-EE!! Check out the screen shot below to see TeamPlain's coolness:

posted @ Wednesday, March 28, 2007 10:51 AM | Feedback (619)

Too Busy

So, as some of you have noticed, I haven't blogged in about 10 days...and that's a little unsual for me.  After getting back from the MVP Summit, I tons of work that had piled up during my absense plus the work that I need to get done that week.  Needless to say, I was pretty swamped. To make matters worse, an enhancement that I had deployed prior to leaving for the summit had stopped working and no one could figure out why.  So, alas I spend the first half of Monday trying to dig through all the failed steps to...

posted @ Sunday, March 25, 2007 11:34 AM | Feedback (611)

TDD, I Think I Love You

So, a couple of days ago while sitting at the lobby of my hotel for the MVP Summit, I decided to come up with a simple Smart Client shell for the LOB Windows application my company uses. So there I am minding my own business when along comes Jean-Paul Boodhoo, James Kovacs, David Laribee, DonXML and ask what I was working on.  After some explaining of my intentions for replacing our legacy VB6 application with a brand new .NET one, JP couldn't resist the opportunity to do some TDD and Pair Programming. I must say, that I've always been of the...

posted @ Saturday, March 17, 2007 9:52 PM | Feedback (621)

TechEd 2007 Birds of a Feather Session: How To Start A .NET User Group

That's, right I've summitted the How to Start A .NET User Group BoF session.  Last year, Nick, Eric, Levi and I were moderators for this same session and had a great turn out (10+)! If you have time, you should vote for it so it can make it for the final cut! Voting Link: https://www.msteched.com/BOF/voting.aspx Here is it's bio: How To Start a .NET User Group This BOF session will be a round table for anyone interested in starting and maintaining an active .NET user group within their local community. We'll share common success and challenges that attendees have experienced. Audience: Developer

posted @ Saturday, March 17, 2007 9:47 PM | Feedback (613)

Thanks, Paul Sheriff!

I would like to thank Paul Sheriff for taking the time to speak to our user group.  He did an excellent job on presenting an intro to OOP. In case you were not there, he has offered a free eBook for our UG members.  Go here, to get it. Once again, thanks Paul!

posted @ Wednesday, March 7, 2007 9:49 PM | Feedback (614)

Thanks CRINETA!

Thanks all that attended my CRINETA presentation Applied .NET 2.0 Programming! I'm pretty impressed on the level of interaction we had throughout the presentation.  To me, this is what made it really memorable for me! Once again, thanks for attending!

posted @ Tuesday, March 6, 2007 9:39 PM | Feedback (614)

CRINETA Presentation: Applied .NET 2.0 Programming

That's right, on Monday March 5th, I will be presenting for the Cedar Rapids .NET User Group about .NET 2.0 programming.  Here's the info: Applied .NET 2.0 Programming Are you tired of the same old boring "collection demos" for generics?  Ever wondered how anonymous delegates really work?  Tired of playing with System.Xml clasess to a grip of your .config file?  Or how about adding basic transaction support to common .NET types?  In this session I will show you how you can take some of the new features of the .NET Framework 2.0, (Generics, Anonymous Delegates, Configuration, and Transactions) and apply them to your current development with minimal...

posted @ Friday, March 2, 2007 11:20 AM | Feedback (612)