Xperimentality

We have put up some more information about the .NET University in Birmingham, Alabama this Monday and Tuesday evening.  You can read a little more about it at the Birmingham .NET User Group site.  Or if you want to register, you can click here.

Remember, you must register and attend all 4 session to get your free t-shirt and certificate.  As an added bonus, we will be giving away a Zune after the last presentation on Tuesday thanks to Doug Turnure!

We have confirmed the date, time, and location for a .NET University in Birmingham, Alabama.  On December 11 and 12 from 6PM to 8PM we will be presenting a .NET University.  It will take place at the new auditorium in the new Building 3 of the Southern Progress Campus at 2100 Lakeshore Drive.  As soon as we get the link set up for registration, I will post it here.

The purpose of .NET University is to provide a quick and easy way to get an overview of the new features in .NET 3.0, as well as provide materials for the community to re-present to other technical audiences.

I have been meaning to mention that I won the 8th place prize in October from Community Credit. The 8th place prize is a really cool lightening disc for lack of a better term.  You can see a picture of one here.  If you have not visited Community Credit yet, check it out!

I posted a new book review on Digital Photography Hacks. While it might not seem like much of a technology book, developing for the web does mean occasionally being a photographer.  I am often asked to take new photos or do post processing on existing photos for use as images for a website.  I assume many others are in the same situation.  Anything that helps me take better digital photography, makes me a better web developer.  As a UI developer, graphics is of great interest to me.  So you will see more reviews on books dealing with photography, Photoshop, and graphics in the near future.  Click here to read the review.

Well I don't know if I am late to the game on this or not but Jeff just brought to my attention that the Mix '07 dates and location have been announced.  It looks like it is going to be at the Venetian in Las Vegas again April 30 - May 02!  For anyone who was not able to attend last year, the event was excellent.  A ton of great information!  I hope I will be able to go again this year!  Looks like registration is going to begin sometime in January!

Jeremy Chance and I spoke with Doug Turnure at the Code Camp in Montgomery about doing a .NET University run in Birmingham sometime before the end of the year.  Tentatively looks like we might shoot for December 11 and 12.  I will announce the final dates and details when we have more.

For anyone that attended my presentations at the Code Camp in Montgomery, as promised, I will get the slide stacks and the code samples out here on the blog in the next day or so!

My wife has been very patient over the past month or so with all the work I have been doing at home and late into the night.  So I promised that after Code Camp last Saturday I would rest my fingers and give her and my little princess of a daughter some attention!  Accordingly, I didn't even crack the computer for the rest of the weekend.

But now I thought I would say a couple of things about how this last code camp went.

On Friday night before the day of the code camp, as is customary, the speakers got together to chat prior to the event.  It was a good night.  Jeff Barnes and I carpooled together and after a fairly short drive down south we met the gang at the Montgomery Brewery and Pub.  The band they had was in costume (I think)!  If you were there, you know what I mean :)  We had some food and good company!  Doug Turnure joined us for this code camp for a couple of reasons.  First, Joe Healy had some pressing matters he had to attend to.  Second, Doug will be taking over as DE for our area in December.  So while our thoughts were with Joe, we welcomed Doug into the Wild and Crazy world of Alabama!

As far as the actual Code Camp, I think we have had our 3rd successful Code Camp.  We had some great speakers, some old, some new, but all entertaining and informative!  As I mentioned in a previous post, the inaugural run of the .NET University occurred at this Code Camp and went well.  I think the attendees got a great look at the four technologies headed their way in .NET 3.0!

The word on the street is that the guys down in Mobile at the Lower Alabama .NET User Group are getting reved up on the fourth code camp.  Looks like it might take place sometime around April or May of 2007!  I'm looking forward to that one.  I guess I need to sand-proof my laptop.  I wish those guys luck and look forward to seeing what they come up with.  I anticipate another great success story.  So as we say goodbye to another code camp, we look forward to the future (and the beach) with anticipation.  Maybe I should start working on my presentations NOW!