Time for everyone to update your RSS readers.  The Atlanta .NET Regular Guys will not be posting to www.devcow.com/weblogs anymore.  We've moved to www.devcow.com/blogs.

Why?

Because the new blogging engine we're using will allow us to host other people's blogs.  We have recruited a few select individuals to blog with us:

• Todd Fine - RDA consultant/Microsoft Regional Director
• Mark Dunn - .Net Rocks co-founder/VB.Net MVP/Training guru
• Eric Thompson - all around bright guy who got in b/c he and Brendon are good friends (I suppose now I'll have to be his friend too)
• Dan Attis - co-leader of the Atlanta Microsoft Professionals User Group and part of the team designing the content for the SharePoint 1, 2, 3! event

Of course, you can continue to expect the same quality content from Brendon and myself, posting together as the Atlanta .Net Regular Guys. Feel free to read the blog's aggregate post or jump directly to the ADNRG blog.

-- Matt Ranlett

I guess I'm not any more famous today than I was the Friday before.  Still - Scoble did link to me - twice!

-- Matt Ranlett

$99 gets you a full day of training from DevelopMentor (former home of Don Box and Chris Sells and our very own Doug Turnure).  It's at the Cobb Galleria and you're a sucker if you don't go.  Sign up via the banner on the SQL Server User Group - www.atlantamdf.com and you'll help earn the group a donation.  You'll also get a kickback of your very own.  If you sign up through AtlantaMDF, you'll get a $25 Amex cash card.  Of course, you don't have to tell the people reimbursing you that you'll be getting some cash back...

-- Matt Ranlett

PS - you won't see this even on the calendar b/c it's not free.

This is starting to happen with increasing regularity.  I'm using the phone (a Nokia 3650) with the hands-free headset (the wired kind, not a Bluetooth thingy) and I finish my call.  I disconnect the headset but the phone doesn't realize it.  I still have the little headphones icon on the screen and the speakers and microphone don't work.  Effectively, my phone is useless.  The thing still works if I put the headset back in, but I don't always have my headset with me.  Even more annoying, occasionally the phone switches to headset mode when I'm not using the headset - in the middle of the call.  Suddenly I can't hear or say anything!  Occasionally the phone will realize that the headset is gone if I plug and unplug the headset several times.  This morning it didn't work and I since I left the headset at home, I had to run out at lunch to get a new one.  $20 for a new headset.  I must have plugged the headset in and out 50 times before I was forced to buy it.  I get in the car and try 5 more times and the damn phone turns off the headset! 

Anyway - if this keeps up I'll eventually be getting a new phone.  Of course, I want a cool phone, but I'm fighting the forces of brokeness - so I probably won't get what I want.  Damn technology!  Why does it have to be so expensive and yet so cool and desirable?  It's like socially acceptable (albiet geeky) form of crack!  While I was at the TMobile store I asked about fixing the phone.  $70 and they mail me a replacement phone for the one I have.  But $70!?!  That's like half (or 1/5th) of the cost of the phones I want!

-- Matt Ranlett

Wally McClure, in an effort to avoid having to come up with his own content, has started producing a podcast where he gets other people to do the dirty work for him.  "I'm not sure I can let you whitewash this fence, I'm having an awful lot of fun..." (vague reference to Tom Sawyer).

Seriously though.  Wally is a great guy and it was fun to help him out with a little bit of regurgitated material.  Brendon and I basically recorded what we presented at the Atlanta Code Camp, which was a rehash of several webcasts, books, and articles.  I hope you don't get too bored if you listen.

http://weblogs.asp.net/wallym/archive/2005/07/24/420403.aspx

-- Matt Ranlett

I don't know who at Microsoft makes the travel plans for things like the Indigo Roadshow, but I want to talk to them sternly about their apparent neglect of Atlanta.  I'd love to see this show, but I'm not going to drive to Florida for it.  Seriously - 2 shows in Florida and 1 in Philly and that's it for the East coast?  Come on!  How about Atlanta?  At least think about my friends in Raleigh (apparently no one ever does)!

-- Matt Ranlett

I spent a good portion of today and I'll be spending more time tomorrow painting the interior of my house.  I'm getting ready to sell it and officially move in with Kim.  The problem is that painting sucks.  Does anyone want to buy a partially painted house inside the Perimeter for about $180K?  I'll cut you a deal if you don't make me paint or clean anymore.

-- Matt Ranlett

Brendon and I hyped the SharePoint 1, 2, 3! event to the INETA board and they loved the idea.  So much so that they want us to give them the content and they'll spread it around the community.  They all had some useful and constructive advice for us as well.

Check out www.SharePoint123.com and learn about the event being hosted by the Atlanta Microsoft Professionals - a new user group in town.  Sign up for the newsletter on www.atlantamspros.com and be among the first to know when registration for the SharePoint event opens.

-- Matt Ranlett

I had a great time at the geek dinner.  I started the evening off with great conversations with Glen Gordon, Jim Wooley, Chris Wallace, and Brendon.  Glen was telling me that at MGB they just were going over the sales analogy for the year - winning a race, all teams working together like all the cylinders and pistons working together, the race car and the pit crew, blah blah blah.  Then Mario Andretti came out on stage.  Yup - THE Mario Andretti.  Awesome!

After a while, I wandered off to chat with almost the entire INETA board, who showed up from the MGB conference happening downtown.  I had a great chat with them and ended up pitching them an idea Glen mentioned.  They loved it, Glen loved it, and it looks like we're going to do it.  I'll post more on THE IDEA when we do a bit more planning and it looks like a reality.

I chatted with Shawn and Michael about independent consulting.  Shawn's doing well and Michael is excited about the future.  I'm sure they're both going to do well - they're among the brightest people I know.

I wandered back over to the INETA people and Brendon and I sat there for a while bragging to them about the dynamic and highly active Atlanta user group community.  They loved some of the ideas we talked about with them and they were highly impressed at how much stuff actually goes on here in Atlanta.  I think Brendon and I might have come across as a bit more super than we actually are (they called us Super UG Leaders) but they were impressed by the cohesion of the entire UG leadership team and the dedication of the UG members.  I think that right now INETA is struggling to find it's value for the average UG member, and the board is interviewing the community to find out what we need.

It was also good to talk to Paul for a while.  I've not seen him for a bit as he's been working hard on stuff that actually helps him pay his mortgage.  Paul's a great guy and I hope he manages to work user groups back into his schedule on occasion.  Even if he doesn't, I'll make sure I don't lose touch with him.

Over all, I had a great time at the meeting, even though I never got a chance to talk to Robert Scoble.  Oh well.  I'm sure he's a great guy, he just kept happening to be on the opposite side of the room I was on all night until he left and skipped out on his tab ;-)

-- Matt Ranlett

Shawn Wildermuth organized a great Geek Dinner, co-hosted by Robert Scoble.  Everyone shows up and orders overpriced specialty beers and food at 5 Seasons - our favorite Geek Dinner spot.  To keep everyone's order straight with their bills, the waitress takes everyone's card and runs it through to open a tab for each individual order.  At the end of the meal, the cost is charged to the card now on file and everyone just has to sign a receipt.  Every but Scoble, that is!  He managed to leave without signing his slip and b/c his card didn't run through correctly (unnoticed by the waitress at the time) she doesn't even have a card number for him. 

So now Robert owes Paul Lockwood $45

-- Matt Ranlett

I am having a problem with Outlook.  Actually, the problem is with disorganization in my life and I want to try to use Outlook to help me sort things out.  I've got lots of stuff going on at the moment - at work, at the user groups, and in my personal life.  So I thought having all this stuff in the calendar and tasklist in Outlook would certainly help out a bit.  Then I could use some of the tips Kirk mentioned in his blog and try to keep myself on track better.

Here's the problem:

I have 2 computers - 1 work desktop and 1 laptop.  I'd like to keep the calendar in the laptop up to date with everything, but I have a tendancy to spend so much time in front of my desktop at work that I find most of my life is managed through the calendar there.  The desktop Outlook is hooked to an Exchange server, the laptop is not.  I want a way to synchronize my calendar, tasks, and notes from my desktop to my laptop.  I don't need this to be two way synchronization.  I don't want my e-mail from work "infecting" my laptop.  I don't want to have to manage multiple profiles to get this to work, and I don't want to have multiple calendars in the same view.  I want everything on one calendar.  How do I do this?

I thought that this list of helpful advice from SlipStick might help out, but I was so confused by the array of conflicting advice that I gave up.

Does anyone out there have a solution to this issue?  Thanks!

-- Matt Ranlett

The next Atlanta MSDN event takes place on August 28th.  Check out the topics Glen is planning on covering:

• Developing Compelling User Interfaces with Ease in ASP.NET 2.0
• Data Access with ADO.NET 2.0 and ASP.NET 2.0
• Building High Performance Applications with ASP.NET 2.0

 Be sure to register early as we've been hearing about 400+ people registering for these events.

-- Matt Ranlett

This is just an alert for those of you who are not keeping up with the calendar:

Tonight: the SPIN group is hosting Randy Miller from the VSTS team at the Microsoft offices

Tomorrow: the SQL Server UG is hosting Bill Baker from the SQL Server Business Intelligence team at the Microsoft offices

Monday: the main .Net UG looks into application platform migration with Mike Sorrentino from BrightStrategy Inc.

-- Matt Ranlett

In honor of the historic landing on the moon, the folks at Google have combined high resolution maps of the moon with their Google Maps technology to give you an incredible interactive view of the lunar surface.  Zoom all the way in to see the footsteps!  Check it out at http://moon.google.com.

-- Matt Ranlett

Microsoft has just released version 5 of their Automotive operating system.  Check out this summary news story on Tom's Hardware.  For more details, go to Microsoft.com's press release area and read all about how Windows Automotive will allow connected systems in your car.

-- Matt Ranlett