WIT: My Opinion

This is a post I’ve started writing 7 different times. I’m not kidding. I have SEVEN different titles in my Live Writer drafts, ranging from “The Boy in the Ballet,” (which I started after attending my daughters’ dance recital, where I couldn’t stop staring in fascination at the 1 or 2 boys onstage amidst 15 […]

That Conference: School Paper by My Daughter

My kids’ last day of school was Thursday. While going through the schoolwork they brought home, I came across this paper, written by my 4th grader at the beginning of the school year. It was so cute I had to share. If you want to see my version of ThatConference 2012, I blogged about it here. […]

ThatConference 2012

Developer Parent As a working parent of two young children, it is not easy for me to attend conferences. Thankfully, I have an unbelievably supportive spouse, without which (as you know if you have kids & have voluntarily attended an OOT dev conf), the thought of attending a conference would not even be on the […]

My Week at //build/ Part 3

My apologies for this long-overdue wrap-up, but last quarter became really crazy. Not only did we move the family, but we got the very sad news that my father-in-law was in a fatal car accident & have been dealing with his affairs. Because a picture says a thousand words, I’ve posted my pictures from //build/ […]

My Week at //build/ Part 2

An interesting thing happened to me this week. A coworker came to my desk JAZZED UP. He told me he had read Part 1 & could feel my excitement through my post. It’s incredibly fun to be told what resonates with people. He told me he could totally identify with my description of dreaming to […]

My Week at //build/ Part 1

What a whirlwind! It’s been a little over a week since I got home from the conference. By now I’m sure you’ve read quite a few polished, professional posts on the conference. If you’re looking for the technical, don’t bother reading any further, as my story is one similar to the magic that is experienced […]

//BUILD/ Conference: Pipe Dream

I want to understand how to create/extend a badge scanner listener from a device that reads like a USB Keyboard Wedge. Since 2005, I’ve used a WinForms app, combined with a programmed barcode scanner, to listen for the key I programmed into the USB barcode scanners that read like a keyboard wedges. In my WinForms […]

Edward Tufte: A Seminar Lacking Quantitative Information

Update: Within hours of emailing the seminar company with my reasons I did not think the description was accurate, I am surprised and impressed to report that they offered me a partial refund that brought my out-of-pocket cost closer to the student rate. I’d like to officially thank them for that. It was both appreciated […]

What? Me, Interesting? Are You Crazy or Just Being Kind?

Disclaimer: If you decide to read this, please do so with the understanding that this is MY story. I don’t (and I can’t) speak for anyone else. All I can do is tell MY experience. This was written as a soul-searching self-discovery after being so inspired by Scott Hanselman at Microsoft Web Camp in Austin […]