Presentation in a Box
Don Box shares his rules for giving a presentation.

Here are some additional tips:
Brad Abrams: What makes a good PDC Session?
Scott Hanselman: Tips for a successful MSFT presentation

Bionic Office
Now, this is the way to design an office!

If it's Green, will it Grow?
My bet is this one will.

Famous Visitors
Wow! Rick Chapman, the author of "In Search of Stupidity" stopped by my blog (see the comments). That's really cool! Now, Rick isn't stupid...he's learned from the things others did...and documented it for the rest of us. His book is on my "You Must Read This" list.

Really Stoopid
Reading "In Search of Stupidity" has caused me to think about stupid things I've seen companies do. I remember the consulting company I worked for in New Jersey. We had a multi-million dollar contract with UPS. Several of our employees were on site doing coding, design, networking, etc. Once Bozo VP almost lost the contract when he sent our employee's paychecks to them via FedEx.

What is Avalon?
If you don't know, you should. Wesner Moise explains.

Pirates, Part II
I was talking with a coworker yesterday about last week's International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Wouldn't it be fun to have a "Talk Like a ______ Day" everyday? Here are some ideas:
- Talk Like Elmer Fudd Day (Oh, my goodness gwacious. This pwogwam is full of anomawies)
- Talk Like a Klingon Day (Today is NOT a good day to debug)
- Talk Like Gomer Pyle Day (Suprise, suprise, suprise)
- Talk Like a Surfer Day (this idea is gnarly, Dude)
- Talk Like Monty Python Day (We are the programmer's who say "NEE")
- Talk Like You're in a Chat Room Day (instead of laughing, throw your head back and say "LOL")

It's the data, stoopid
Don Box, Microsoft XML guru admits that .NET needs improvements for creating database apps. This is something Fox developers have known since the first .NET beta was released.

Isabelle Revisited
My brother near Charlottesville, VA got about 6 inches of rain and 50 mph winds from hurricane Isabelle. He lost power about 5:00 pm Thursday and it hadn't been restored as of 10:30 am Friday. He may be without lights for awhile as 4.5 million people don't have power.

Canned spam?
Britain has outlawed spam. I don't think the law will help much.

Isabelle
I'm following hurricane Isabelle. I used to live in North Carolina and have visited the Outer Banks. My brother lives in Virginia and will get wind and rain from the storm. My favorite weather site, Intellicast, has some incredible pictures of the storm. Check out these links:
Isabelle 3D
Satellite Image Loop
Satellite Image

McExercise?
This still won't get me to eat at McDonalds.

Longhorn, the PDC, Sun, and more
Microsoft is getting excited about Longhorn and how it is supposed to deliver more value. Microsoft is even getting excited about the competition that Sun and Apple are giving them and how Longhorn will be the killer OS that you'll have to have. Don't believe me? See what Scoble says about it. The Longhorn Developer Center is also ready to launch.

From what I've learned about Longhorn, it is going to be a killer. New file system based on SQL Server, enhanced graphics that require a 3D video card, Win32 goes into maintenance mode, and everything based on .NET. I guess we'll find out when parts of Longhorn are publically revealed for the first time next month at the PDC.

Testing, 1, 2, 3
Today was testing day. I took the Microsoft 70-300 exam because I had a free voucher that expires the end of the month. I haven't been doing any .NET development and I didn't study for the exam so it doesn't surprise me that I didn't pass.

Catching Up
It's been two weeks? I probably fell off your radar. But, the blip is back and to find out what's been happening, let's go to the video tape...or in this case, text..
- Round 2 of Six Sigma Green Belt training is complete. It was very heavy in sadistics...errr...statistics.
- I've been attempting to connect to my Windows 2003 server, but have had no luck. Must be the changes in security.
- Since March, Microsoft has offered a voucher for current MCSDs to take the 70-300, Analyzing Requirements and Defining Microsoft .NET Solution Architecture exam. The voucher expires on September 30. I'm scheduled to take the exam tomorrow morning.
- Ken Levy has posted his monthly letter to the Fox community.
- Microsoft has released another "must have" security patch. As I stated in a previous blog, it's very important to keep your systems up to date.
- Thanks to Garrett, I won't miss International Talk Like a Pirate Day.
- The local Fox user group had it's September meeting. We starting looking at ASP.NET. You can follow things on our community site.
- The Microsoft PDC promises lots on information on Longhorn. I wish I could be there.
- I attended the Salt Lake City Greek Festival. Yes, Greek..not Geek..lots of great entertainment and the food was incredible. The next day I helped a friend setup for the 9th and 9th Street Festival. I arrived a 6:00 AM and worked on traffic baracades, the stage, etc.
- Saw the Jackie Chan movie, The Medallion. He should go back to the physical stunts and forget special effects.

Labor Day Weekend
Ahh...the end of summer...at least unofficially. I spent Sunday and Monday at the cabin on Bear Lake with #2 son, Jason. My parents were there too, along with sister #1, her hubby, and #3 son, who is just a year younger than my #2. And yes, they get along well together. The entire weekend was just relaxing...playing games with the two boys, visiting, and just plain resting up. I also managed to finish In Search of Stupidity. Now that it's Tuesday, it's time to get back to the salt mines.