Mar
2
2011
Jan
27
2011
On Monday January 24th between the hours of 3pm and 5pm, I enjoyed spending time at my “office” in Denver. I relaxed at the Starbucks in the Bellevue Promenade. The place was quite busy – which was perfect. The highlight of my Denver experience is when Ely Lucas (organizer of the upcoming Rocky Mountain Tech Trifecta) came to pay a visit. Thanks Ely for a great fireside chat!
From time to time, I will be hanging out at my various “offices” around my assigned geography – Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. Usually for a two hour period, I will chill-ax with a beverage and broadcast how to find me. The point? Allow developers in the area to chat with their local Developer Evangelist about anything and in a less formal setting.
Jan
21
2011
Today I became a hero! Sadly, not because of any personal accomplishment. I was simply a messenger. I was invited to speak at a special assembly for all students at Happy Valley School in Peoria, AZ. The topic? Officially it was “How to Prepare to Become a Software Engineer” (yawn). I accomplished my objective, but I was sneaky about it. From their perspective, my presentation was “How to Make Games for XBOX 360” (oohs ahhhs hoorays).
Thanks to a suggestion from Lynn Langit, a Microsoft Developer Evangelist on the west coast, I introduced my eager audience to Kodu, a visual programming platform for developing games on the XBOX.
During my demo of how easy it is to learn “visual conditional logic”, the entire assembly became very quiet – something a few teachers commented never happened before. When the presentation was over, so many students approached me with excitement, and assured me they were going to make some cool games. One student approached me sadly and said “I don’t have an XBOX, I only have a PS3.” The students weren’t the only ones wanting in the action. Some teachers and parents also asked a few questions about the platform (there is a gamer in all of us).
It was a great time, and the energy level was contagious. At the end, one student asked me for an autograph. As I said, I am just the messenger. Nonetheless, I obliged and signed away. Is that so wrong?
Jan
17
2011
While attempting to record with Camtasia, you may receive the following error dialog box:
If you receive this message, it is because the recorder is configured to save the recording in a temporary folder that does not exist. To correct the problem, navigate to the tools menu option in the Camtasia Recorder and select Options. Make sure the path for the Temporary folder: text input is valid.
Jan
13
2011
I had a fun time visiting the folks at Gangplank today. I was invited to do a presentation on dynamic styling via jQuery. Code samples can be downloaded below.
Nice crowd of developers from a variety of platforms, and very courteous – despite working for Microsoft :) It was also nice meeting up with Scott Cate and Joseph Guadagno, both very active Microsoft MVPs in the southwest.
jQuery Code Samples Download
Dec
20
2010
Be a “Best of Web” Presenter at MIX11
Are you an expert on web development, design or monetization? Do you have interesting and unique information to deliver on creating next generation web sites? Submit your session proposal by Friday, January 14, 2011. The MIX content team will select the best proposals, and the MIX community will vote to determine who will present. Presenters will receive 3 nights hotel and a conference pass. Visit the Open Call page for detailed terms and conditions. See last year’s open call presenters and topics.
Save $500 + one night hotel at MIX11 – register by Feb 11
MIX11 registration opens in late January with a special offer for early birds – register by February 11 and save $500 on your conference pass, and receive one free night hotel when you book two or more nights at the Mandalay Bay. Join the MIX email newsletter and be among the first to learn about open registration, special offers, speakers and content for this year’s event.
MIX11 event details
Dec
10
2010
I am positioning all my technical blog posts to http://blogs.msdn.com/palermo4/
If you are curious why I am doing so, go read the first blog post and find out!
Oct
3
2010
This month I am travelling to South Africa to speak at Tech Ed. Below is a screen capture of the sessions I will be delivering:
