Life, The Universe, and Everything

New York I Love You/I Hate You...

MOSSLover — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 04:52:14 GMT

New York City was always this fantasy far away that I couldn't touch. I'm not sure it's really New York, but a place that was outside of St. Louis. A place that was outside this whole midwestern bubble I lived in when I was a kid. All I had was school and baseball, because well everything else wasn't so great when I until after I turned 18. When I was 18 I had this really great summer and it felt like everything was changing. It was the beginning of my life. I had no idea what that summer meant, but at the end I was in Naperville, Illinois...I was no longer stuck in St. Louis with all the baggage. I had no one to guide me. My grandmother had just died, so it was like being thrown into the wild. This was my ticket to get to some place like Paris, Los Angeles, New York City...A couple years later I transferred to Kansas City and I graduated. I applied for over 100 jobs on Career Builder and Monster and Hot Jobs and whatever else I could get my hands on. I even applied for jobs at the House and Senate that were technology related. As life goes I ended up in St. Louis and then Kansas City again, not Paris, Los Angeles, or New York City. I started getting involved in the SharePoint and .Net Community and I traveled to places like New York City and Los Angeles, but not Paris. It made me dare to dream I could live somewhere else. How cool would it be to live near New York City? So when I had the opportunity to move I did it. I hated it so much. It was like living in Zimbabwe. Everything was so different in New Jersey. There were no left turns. The people drove like maniacs. Everywhere you went there were a billion people. My boyfriend and I sat down and we made an agreement that we needed to give it a year before we said we hated anything. In between I got to know the community, I got to know the people, and I started to hate things a little less each day. It was gradual and I'm not sure when things changed. So I went to Central Park for the second time ever in my life and I walked around with a friend. I realized how awesome New York City is today. I hate it some days and I love it other days. I love how I can go into the city and just sit and stare at the trees in Central Park. I love how I can take a subway and go see a Broadway Musical. I love how you can sit by a fountain and all of a sudden a ballet dancer will start dancing around the fountain with a friend. I still hate how the people can be so rude and not apologize for some of the meanest stuff I have ever seen. I assume since there are a lot of people you are going to get every kind of person. Some people are nice and others are not. So I can get used to the people I will just never become one of those people who is that mean. Sometimes I lose sight of it, but I need to keep being nice no matter what. I've seen some weird people like these kids who were chasing me to one of the subways screaming "Get Her Purse!"...People do the craziest things and I'm going to doubt they would be able to get my purse in front of 300 onlookers who were watching them. It was more amusing then scary. I see a whole slew of weirdos at Penn Station every time I go. I guess getting to my point I will never regret taking a leap and moving outside of my comfort zone. At the end of the year I am probably moving to Hoboken, which means I am probably going to spend more time in NYC. I feel like we moved, but not all the way. We were just testing the waters. Now we are really geared up to put ourselves all in. I think it's going to be great. There are still parts of New Jersey I could do without, but I don't hate New Jersey either. I was in Atlantic City staring at the ocean a few weeks ago. I think New Jersey has some good parts and some bad parts just like any other place. I think the problem with the past year is that I was adjusting to so much. It takes me about a year to get used to any place. I think that I've finally gotten used to the area. I can finally sit back and feel comfortable. Yes, St. Louis will always be that place where I came from that I will occassionally visit, but I can see myself staying in the New York Metro Area and feeling happy. I hope that everyone has a good week. Maybe some day I'll sit down and write a blog post or a codeplex project. If not then I'll continue to check in every so often.

South Florida Code Camp

MOSSLover — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 18:30:42 GMT

Thank you all for attending my session at the code camp. If you guys have any further Silverlight and SharePoint Questions shoot me an email on the contact form.

Here is a link to my presentation:http://cid-8e2654c5f01e6069.office.live.com/browse.aspx/CodeSamples
Here is a link to some code samples:http://cid-8e2654c5f01e6069.office.live.com/browse.aspx/CodeSamples

It All Started with a Single User Group

MOSSLover — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 00:38:23 GMT

Three years ago from this past June I walked into a meeting of the Kansas City .Net User Group and attended a single meeting. I was scared. Three guys were sitting at the front taking panel questions, Doug Butscher, Jeff Julian, and John Alexander. About three months prior my job had sent me to Kansas City. I was taken away from my best friend and sent back to the town where I went to school. I barely knew anyone in the city, but my boyfriend. So out of boredom and for work I started reading blogs to gain a better understanding of SharePoint 2007. That is how I come to the realization that user groups existed and I googled KC .Net. That is how I ended up at this one meeting. I was scared at this meeting. I was shy and the three guys were speaking about Visual Studio 2008 beta and all these other products I had never read about in my life. I hated my job. I was ready to quit and go back to get a second bachelor’s degree. I wanted to go to medical school. This was the user group that changed my outlook on my job and my life. Jeff threw up this book about SharePoint 2007 Development and talked about how he and John had written it with a mass of people. I knew at that point I wanted to talk to him and possibly John. I mentally debated throughout the meeting should I go up to him or should I exit quietly and never come back. Somehow I ended up going up to him and speaking to him for a while. I ended up skipping the next meeting, but after that meeting I was hooked. I went to as many .Net User Group meetings as I could attend. I was not set on speaking. I just wanted to attend. A few months later Jeff started a new user group meeting that solely devoted to SharePoint called the Kansas City Office Geeks. Somehow I ended up speaking in December of 2007. This was my very first talk ever. I was nervous and only 5 people showed up…

So I have a point to make. It all started with one user group meeting and one gutsy move on my behalf. 3 years later I have now spoken at 50 events and user groups in the SharePoint and .Net Community. SharePoint Saturday Toronto will be my 51^st talk in my career. I ran a user group for two years, Kansas City Office Geeks. I helped start an organization that is devoted to networking and mentoring young girls in the SharePoint Community, Women in SharePoint. I have volunteered at numerous events and will volunteer and numerous events I have attended. I have coded for charities. I have run three successful SharePoint Saturdays. I run this blog (all right I know I need to post more I apologize). I love my job. I love opening Visual Studio. I love solving problems in SharePoint. I never regret the lack of an MD. I walk into an event and I am embraced with friends. It sounds weird, but I feel like I know most of the speakers in the SharePoint Community. It has been the most fun 3 years of my life. Thanks guys for let me speak on 50 different occasions. I hope that I can speak at 50 more events and user groups. If I am lucky my goal is to speak at one international event next year. See you all at future events.

SharePoint Saturday Chicago Slides and Code Samples

MOSSLover — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 00:36:22 GMT

As promised here is a copy of my slides: http://cid-8e2654c5f01e6069.office.live.com/browse.aspx/Presentations

Here is a copy of my demos: http://cid-8e2654c5f01e6069.office.live.com/browse.aspx/CodeSamples

If you have further questions let me know. I had a good time. Thanks for all the questions. It was the best of all 50 sessions.

A big shout out to Kris Wagner and team for putting on an excellent event in Chicago. Kris had brain surgery earlier this year and carpal tunnel surgery. He is one of the coolest people in the community. I would like to call him a good friend. Congrats for finally getting his much deserved MVP. He is someone to follow as an example in the community. I hope that he has many easy year to come. If you haven’t patted him on the back lately send a good tweet to @sharepointkris.

More Changes...

MOSSLover — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 05:18:37 GMT

Stuff has changed drastically for me in the past two to three years. I moved over 1000 miles from Saint Louis. I go outside and I get up in front of crowds with less issues. Now I'm changing jobs again. I'm not really sure what to say here. I was obviously unhappy and I needed to do something different. So quit two days ago and I guess it worked out that I end with B&R this Friday, then head to TEC and SPS Huntsville and a week from this Monday I start my new job at Gig Werks. I'm not sure what to expect or where I'm heading, but I think it's a step in the right direction. I won't really know what kind of impact this will have on my life for at least another 6 months to a year.

For some reason I can't sleep tonight and I think it's really a reflection of my last day. Tomorrow is an ending and a beginning at the same time. So it's both kind of sad and exciting. I don't know why I'm really excited to go to Disney Land for the second time ever in my life time. I get to ride the Teacups. For the longest time when I was a kid I wanted to go to Disney Land. I wanted to ride the teacups. In 2007, at the age of 25, I rode the teacups for my first ever visit to LA. That was the start of finally syncing up with my childhood goals. I wanted to live near a major city. I wanted to visit all the major cities in the world. I wanted to see everything and meet everyone. This job change will probably turn into something great I just don't know it yet. I'm walking again outside my comfort zone and stepping into uncharted territory. In 2-3 years I'll probably write another blog post how this week lead to something great. It just stinks when you have to leave behind something you know and love. I will miss all my current colleagues, but I'm sure I'll gain some new ones and keep in touch with the old. To 2010 being a great year for change and hopefully by the end of the year I can say I went to Europe. To reaching my goals and my dreams. Don't let anyone stop you from getting what you want in life (unless you are axe murderer please don't kill anyone that's just wrong). Have a good weekend everyone!

Strange Happenings

MOSSLover — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 02:00:33 GMT

There are weeks we go about our life thinking nothing is going to change nothing will happen. Then there are other weeks a billion things happen at once. Friday started off very weird for me. I flew into Atlanta and I met some cool people for another SharePoint event. I had some good conversations. Saturday then hit me and my virtual machine bombed in my presentation after the auto updater ran. I was writing code on the board and describing everything in notepad. I would say as presentations go it was the best and the worst presentation all wrapped into one. The next day I was in Baltimore and I hung out with my aunt which was relatively uneventful and great. Then Monday hit and half my presentations failed or succeeded and my screen freezes so I start describing the code. I was on top of my game until Monday night. On top of the world. I'm exhausted I get into Raleigh and one of the craziest stories of my life happens. So my boss has been renting cars through Priceline this week I got a different company than the other weeks. The company gives me a Ford Focus and I plug in the coordinates on my IPhone where I want go. I head out and then I get to the destination hotel (or I thought I did). I go inside it's the wrong hotel the other one is a few miles away. I walk outside hop into the car and it sounds like a gunshot. Nothing is starting...Am I doing something wrong? No I'm not the car is completely dead in the water. I call the rental car facility and they tell me to call roadside they are closing for the night. Roadside says they can't give me a new car but they can get me a jump then I have to take it up with the facility. They send me a tow truck to give me a jump the guy can't jump the car. He tells me this vehicle was towed about an hour ago. He shows me a copy of a slip from when he towed it. We also notice the rental car company left one of there price scanning guns in the vehicle. I call up roadside and now they are interested in getting me a car because I need to be onsite tomorrow. They get the manager of the facility on the phone he apologizes profusely and he says he'll be there in 10 minutes. About 30 minutes pass and him plus another dude show up with a Ford Escape leather interior. At this point I hand him the gun tell him someone left it in the vehicle and that I'm not so happy with them. I ask them to comp my rental they can't due to Priceline, however if I call him again this week he can get me a voucher. It's about 2 am and I'm ready to get to the hotel I don't make it in the next morning until 10 am. I would say this was a crazy week all forms of technology are trying to tell me something. What I have no idea, but we'll see the outcome soon. I feel so weird tons of change is about to happen. I don't know if it's good or bad. I think this week is some form of omen.

Upcoming Presentations

MOSSLover — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 19:07:33 GMT

Conferences:

SSWUG.org VConference, 4 sessions, April 7,8, and 9, Register at http://www.vconferenceonline.com/shows/spring10/uvc/
SharePoint .org Conference, 2 sessions, April 18-21, http://www.sharepointconference.org/Pages/default.aspx
The Expert's Conference, Silverlight, April 25-28, enter the code "Gambit" when you register at: http://www.theexpertsconference.com/general-information/sharepoint-training/
SharePoint Saturdays:
SharePoint Saturday Charlotte, Silverlight, April 10th, Regiser at http://www.sharepointsaturday.org/charlotte
Code Camps:
New York City Code Camp, March 6th, Register at http://ny.codecamp.us
User Groups:
TRISPUG, March 2nd, Register at http://www.trispug.com/default.aspx
Central NJ .Net User Group, March 11th, Register at http://www.njdotnet.net/

SharePoint Saturday Boston Slides and Code

MOSSLover — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 18:57:28 GMT

Here is a link to the slides and code samples on my Sky Drive: http://cid-8e2654c5f01e6069.skydrive.live.com/summary.aspx?sa=624379842
In the future I will be doing a bunch of Stickam test presentations. Check this blog for information and my twitter account. I need more practice and I think Stickam or some other sharing outlet would help a lot.

Happy Birthday SharePoint Saturday!

MOSSLover — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 23:32:34 GMT

It was one year ago that SharePoint Saturday kicked off in Virginia Beach. Michael Lotter, Susan Lennon, and Kevin Israel thanks for creating one of the most successful events around the world. What started out as one or two events has multiplied into over a dozen events and then some. Thank you so much (especially Michael and Susan) for all that you have given to the rest of us. I wouldn't know most of you guys out there without them. It's been an awesome year. Keep up the good work.

Three Weeks…

MOSSLover — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:54:33 GMT

So I did it. I moved, I ran a SharePoint Saturday, and I attended a wedding. I can’t say everything went smoothly in the process, but I will say it all worked out for the best. I started out my stressful adventure a couple months ago with packing and changing everything over to the new address. Here is my account as best as I can describe it to you guys…

I woke up on Friday, December 11th at about 6 am after sleeping on the floor with my boyfriend. The mover’s came at about 7 am to pack the pod. The night before I moved all the boxes to the living room, so that the mover’s could get everything packed up. I also packed all the extra items into our cars. When the movers came one box ended up dropping, but the contents as I found out were not destroyed. One box cracked from stress and we taped it together. In the end we had to shift some items in our vehicles and we lost the 4 chairs that Leah, Jason, and I sanded down and re-painted. It was really sad, but I at least got to keep the table. After this whole ordeal Johnny and I took a nap on the floor, which was horrible and then Brian Laird came to pick me up. It was time to see Jeff Julian and a few other guys for a going away lunch. We had lunch and Brian and I went to run a ton of errands, such as creating the welcome letter for the event and the online surveys. We ended up at the hotel around 6 or 7 and I saw Lee Brandt. We unpacked everything from Brian’s vehicle and the speaker dinner started for SharePoint Saturday. It was a really great dinner, but I really cannot remember half of it. I was exhausted. A little later we ended up hitting Kinko’s, Brian, Karthik, and I to print out a ton of material for the event. That night we stuffed all the folders as best we could (250 or so folders). They looked awesome, unfortunately we all got to bed around midnight. I left Johnny sleep late.

Saturday, December 12th started with Susan and Gary Lennon giving me a ride to the event. This day was a blur, but from what I can remember a couple crazy things happened. KnowledgeLake was police escorted to the wherehouse at the community college, so that they could find all there banners and such for there booth. A few sponsors showed up late, but everyone in the end got there stamps. From what I can understand everyone was happy with the venue. Next time the electronic stuff might work better if a kiosk was available. The wireless access guy was downstairs instead of upstairs so a few people got lost. All in all we ended the day at Talk of the Town having dinner together. At night we all played dreidel in Joy Earles room which was a ton of fun.

Sunday, December 13th was my last day in Kansas City for a while. We started our adventure at Jerusalem Cafe with Johnny, Eric Harlan, Joy Earles, and Cathy Dew. We got the Flaming Cheese and I got to eat the Vegetarian Platter for the last time. Then we went over to the Boulevard Brewery for a tour. I brought Cathy to the airport afterwards and headed to St. Louis. I saw my friend Jaimie that night.

Monday, December 14th was great, because I got to eat a Simon Kohn’s and Meskeram. It was the perfect send off for St. Louis. I bought a ton of beer at Schlafly for the guys in Jersey and some for Leah and Jason. We had our last night of drinking before I headed to the east coast.

Tuesday, December 15th was a day of driving. We got into Columbus around 6 or 7. I vaguely remember this day. It was pretty uneventful.

Wednesday, December 16th was pretty stressful. I got into Columbus, MD around 2 pm or so. I stopped at a McDonald’s by my aunt’s house. I decided it would be a good idea to call the apartment complex. They had no idea we were coming. This is when the pain started to set in. After hours of talking to these guys Johnny worked it out so we got a 2 bedroom. We did not get the 2 bedroom that we wanted, so we had to change a few things the next day was going to be hectic. We had to get up at 4 am.

Thursday, December 17th was a quick drive and we were at the apartment complex. I had to wait with Gambit in the car for a few hours. It was cold outside so I tried to keep the car heated as much as I could. When the lady showed up she said I needed a money order. My bank was not located in this area. The closest branch was somewhere in the midwest. I had to frantically drive around trying to get money. Finally after moving some money from one place to another and getting money out of this and that account I had the money order. We were able to pick up the keys and tour the apartment. After a few hours of waiting for the Pod to show up and the clock hitting almost noon I called up the company. There was a problem with the machinery, so they could not come until 1:30. Luckily I was able to catch the guys I work with who helped me out. When they arrived around 1:20 the ABF pod guy arrived after I chased the truck (literally ran after it). Everything was unpacked and then we went out to buy all the things we needed.

In the coming days insurance was changed, licenses were bought, and furniture was purchased. In a few weeks we might actually get settled in.

Friday, December 18th was hectic, because we were balancing the drive to Philly and getting stuff done. Luckily, we got to Philly, but it took us 3 hours because of pending snow and traffic. I saw some of my cousins and ate some awesome food. We got home and decided to stay in Saturday due to snow.

Saturday, December 19th was a ton of unpacking and staying inside. Unfortunately, we had no food and it was pretty bad outside. We got a lot unpacked and assembled. It was the first day it was beginning to feel like a real place to live.

Sunday, December 19th was the day of my cousin’s wedding. We made it to the hotel in record time. Pictures were taken and the festivities were had. I was confused with half of what went on because this was my very first Jewish wedding I can remember. It was cool to see all the little rituals. I don’t really know the guy all that well but I think my cousin will be happy. That night I brought my dad back with me to my apartment so that he could help us lift the tv. The tv was a little crooked but things ended up ok overall. I went back to Philly and got to hang out with my grandmother for a little bit.

Of all the days in that 2 week period I think it felt rushed and I couldn’t enjoy it as much as I should have enjoyed it. I loved all the stuff, but I would have loved to space it out a little more. I think next time (if I ever do it again) when I run a SharePoint Saturday I need to space it out away from any major events. I’m glad everything turned out ok, but I was insane to do all that stuff in the same 2 week period. I think I’m still recovering from all the events. I probably won’t fully recover for another 2 months.

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