So I signed up for BizTalk Server 2006 training with Dunn Training at the end of August.  I am somewhat familiar with the concepts behind BizTalk but have never really touched it.  Since we are currently using BizTalk 2004 in-house currently (upgrading to 2006 shortly), I wanted to familiarize myself.  I poked around the BizTalk developer center and found the BizTalk Virtual Labs.  This is the first time I tried these and found it to be a great introduction.  Microsoft actually hosts a Virtual PC they preconfigure for the lab that you access over the internet.  The development environment is loaded and so is BizTalk.  You just log on, run a script and follow the lab.  When I get some free time, I want to browse the rest of the Virtual Labs.

When I decided to start a blog, I looked around at what other people were doing.  I visited the community sites like Blogger and TypePad but always had it in the back of my mind to host my own.  Since I wanted my own domain and already had a shared hosting site, I settled on DasBlog.  Since it is file based, I didn't have to mess with SQL.  Just dropped the files in and modified some configs and it worked like a charm.  Within a few hours, I had modified the template to do a few things the way I wanted.  The documentation had a direct answer for every question I had and was clear enoug to allo wme to execute the mod in short order.

Anyone interested in DasBlog will be happy to know that version 1.9 is coming soon!

When: Wednesday, August 16, 2006 at 6:00 PM

Who: Joe Healy, our local Microsoft evangelist (http://www.devfish.net/), will be giving a demo on Atlas (http://atlas.asp.net/). "Atlas" is a free framework for building a new generation of richer, more interactive, highly personalized cross-browser web applications.

What: Microsoft Atlas Framework

Where: Space Coast Credit Union Headquarters

8045 N. Wickham Road Melbourne, Florida 32940

Map

Unlike MSDN events and big conferences this will be a local event with lots of opportunities to ask questions and get down to business. Additionally, many of the attendees are employed by companies in the area and provide a great opportunity for professional networking.

See the Space Coast .Net User Group website for more information.

I spent the last year and a half working for a small company with 20+ employees in a 'get er done' coding frenzy of chaos.  My new employer is a Fortune 500 company with a more metered pace to the development process.  After getting my head above water with my new employer, I realized that I had failed to keep up with the new technologies coming from Microsoft.  I also realized that working in a small company, although exciting, can leave you with a lack of exposure to your peers and their ideas and best practices.  It is this that drove me headlong into the world of Blogs and Podcasts in an attempt to continue my growth as a professional software developer.  With a sizeable bloggroll and backlog of podcasts, I am beginnind to feel like the bull is going to let me think I am in control for a little while.

The purpose of my blog is multi-fold:

• Share valuable blog posts, articles and podcasts I come accross related to software development (both general and .Net specific)
• Help Promote the Space Coast Dot Net User Group
• A forum for my random thoughts and ramblings

Here we go...