Cloudsocket: Blog

The 9 Books That Helped My Career and I Recommend

cwoodruff — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:44:00 GMT

None of these books cover any .NET or language specific topics. I would argue that even the book covering frameworks could be used by developers outside of the .NET platform.The purpose of this book list is to change your view of the world so that you as a developer design, architect and develop better software. This list is not the only books you can or should read but the ones I have found in my years of reading and working that helped me get better in my craft. A few of these books may be out of print but I would advise finding them used or borrowing them from friends.

KalamazooX Conference: April 25, 2009

cwoodruff — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:18:00 GMT

There are many technical conferences throughout the Midwest and Great Lakes region. Some are very technical like the West Michigan .NET University event that recently happened in Grand Rapids. Some are not so technical and are even more fun. The KalamazooX conference that will be on April 25, 2009 is one of those conferences where you may not see a line of code and be the better for it. I promise you will.

I will just let the organizers explain what the conference is:

The Kalamazoo X Conference is a one-day software development conference hosted in beautiful Southwest Michigan. While there are many great technical conferences in the region, their focus tends toward new technologies and programming languages. The Kalamazoo X Conference intends to uniquely complement those conferences by enabling attendees to boost their process, design, and communication skills in the following areas:

Human interaction, including social, personal, and career development.
Interface and graphic design
Development processes and best practices
Requirements analysis, architecture, design, and modeling

I have been waiting for a conference like this to appear and I am very happy that Mike Eaton, Anne Goodrich and Michael Markel have stepped up and created an event that will give attendees knowledge that is often overlooked by people that is highly valuable.

I will be speaking on Measured Innovation and I am very excited to get to speak on this topic after years of waiting for that right event to spill my guts over a very needed topic.

The following is a run down of the speakers and their talks:

Soft Skills
Brian Prince
Branding 101: Growing your brand
Clovis Bordeaux
Social Networking for Geeks
Sarah Dutkiewicz
How to use Measured Innovation when developing new Technology
Chris Woodruff
A little bit of Lean with Kanban
Tim Wingfield
5 Classic Patterns in Everyday Code
Mike Wood
3 Tips to Improve Your Development Process
Jim Holmes
The Process of Designing Experiences
Andy van Solkema
The Art of Simplicity
Josh Holmes
Six Tips for Improving User Experience
Jeff Blankenburg
Change
Leon Gersing
Organizational Dynamics
James Bender
Effective Customer Communication
David Giard
Leadership 101
Jim Holmes

The West Michigan .NET University at GVSU Pew Campus

cwoodruff — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 12:55:00 GMT

The West Michigan .NET University at GVSU Pew Campus

When

April 4, 2009

Time

7:30AM to 5:00PM

Where

Grand Valley State University Pew Campus

What is a .NET University event?

A .NET University event is a free day long community event for spreading knowledge of the latest Microsoft and .NET technologies. We will have morning and afternoon sessions that are longer and teach from the basics to the intermediate levels for IT workers to learn from some of the region’s top experts.

Registration is Open!

Join the West Michigan .NET User Group for their first ever West Michigan .NET University. We only have 250 spots open so sign up now!! The day will include lunch!

More Details for MVP Summit Geek Dinner

cwoodruff — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 02:54:17 GMT

I wanted to pass along some details that were flushed out today concerning the MVP Summit Geek Dinner on March 4, 2009 at the Tap House Grill in Seattle across the street from the Sheraton Hotel.

Dinner will be at 6:00PM and we have 2 rooms we will be seated in each with room for 35-40 people.
After Dinner the party will move over to the Billiards Lounge (pictured in the post) where we will have a bar and many pool tables to play and mingle around.
Happy Hour will start at 10:00PM until close with $4 beers and $5 cocktails along with happy hour food

Get your Geek Dinner tickets at mvpsummitgeekdinner.eventbrite.com

Here is the beer list:

AMERICAN LAGERS
BUD LIGHT
SAM ADAMS BOSTON LAGER

ALES
Alaskan Amber
Anchor Steam
Anderson Valley “Boont”
Boulder Hazed and Infused
Boundary Bay Dry-Hopped Amber
Fish Tale Organic Amber
Full Sail Amber
Georgetown Chopper Red Ale
Hair of the Dog Fred
Hood Canal Agate Pass Amber
Mac & Jack’s African Amber
Mactarnahan’s Amber
Mendocino Eye of the Hawk
New Belgium Fat Tire
Rogue St. Rogue Red
Rogue Dead Guy Ale
Tap House Uber Frog
Stone Brewery Arrogant Bastard

BELGIANS/BELGIAN STYLES
Corsendonk Pale*
Hoegaarden White Beer*
Lindemans Framboise*
New Belgium 1554*
North Coast Brother Thelonious*
North Coast Pranqster*
Unibroue Blanche De Chambly*
Unibroue Maudite*

BITTERS
Elysian “The Wise” ESB
Fuller’s ESB
Redhook ESB
Rogue Brutal Bitter

BLONDES
Hale’s Drawbridge Blonde
Redhook Blonde
Scuttlebutt Blonde

BOCKS
Ayinger Celebrator Dopplebock
Shiner Bock
Spaten “Helles” Bock
Spaten Optimator
Weihenstephaner Korbinian

BROWN ALES
Big Sky Moose Drool Ale
Iron Horse Brass Ass Brown
Newcastle Brown Ale
Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar
Coyote Moon Brown

FRUITS/CIDERS
LANG CREEK MANDARIN HEFEWEIZEN
PYRAMID APRICOT ALE
WOODCHUCK GRANNY SMITH CIDER
WYDERS PEAR CIDER

INDIA PALE ALES
Anderson Valley Hop Ottin’ IPA
Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye
Boundary Bay IPA
Diamond Knot Industrial IPA
Dogfish Head 90 Min IPA
Elysian “The Immortal” IPA
Hales Mongoose IPA
Lagunitas IPA
Pike IPA
Skagit River Skullers IPA
Snoqualmie Falls Wildcat IPA
Stone Ruination IPA

LAGERS
Bottom Fermented,Crisp Flavor
Amstel Light
Baron Schwarzbier
Becks
Birra Moretti
Carlsberg
Dos Equis Special Lager
Fosters
Groslch
Harp
HB Hofbrauhaus Original
Heineken
Kingfisher Indian Lager
Kirin Ichiban
Kronenbourg 1664
O.K. Beer
Sleeman Honey Brown Lager
Spaten Lager
Stella Artois

PALE ALES
Alaskan Pale Ale
Bass Ale
Big Sky Scape Goat Ale
Boddingtons Pub Ale
Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale
Full Sail Pale Ale
Georgetown Mannys Pale Ale
Hale’s Cream Ale
Kona Fire Rock Pale Ale
Sierra Nevada Pale
Snoqualmie Copperhead
Tetley’s Ale (N)

PILSNERS
Moderate Hops, Golden Color
Aktien Jubilaums Pilsner
Baron Pilsner
Georgetown Roger’s Pilsner
Krusovice Imperial
Maritime Portage Bay Pilsner
North Coast Scrimshaw Pilsner
Pilsner Urquell
Warsteiner Pilsner

PORTERS
Deschutes Black Butte Porter
Fish Tale Mudshark Porter
Mac & Jack’s Blackcat Porter
Okocim Porter
Rogue Mocha Porter
Snoqualmie Steam Train Porter
Stone Smoked Porter

SCOTTISH ALES
Boundary Bay Scotch
Pike Kilt Lifter Scottish Style

STOUTS
Alaskan Oatmeal Stout
Anderson Valley Barney Flats Oatmeal
Deschutes Obsdian Stout
Elysian Dragons Tooth Stout
Great Divide Oak Aged Imperial
Guinness Stout (N)
Murphy’s Irish Stout (N)
North Coast Old Rasputin Imperial (N)
Rogue Shakespere Stout (N)
Young’s Double Chocolate Stout (N)

WHEATS/WEIZENS
Ayinger Brau-Weisse
Blue Moon Belgian
Franziskaner Weissbier
Hacker- Pschorr
Lazy Boy Hefe
Leavenworth Blind Pig Dunkel
Leavenworth Whistling Pig Hefe
Maritime Clipper Gold Hefe
Pyramid Hefe
Widmer Hefe

MVP Summit 2009 Post Event Geek Dinner

cwoodruff — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 17:35:50 GMT

Sara Ford (PM for Microsoft CodePlex) and myself are planning a Geek Dinner for the last night of the MVP Summit. We hope our friends can make the dinner at the Tap House Grill at 6:00PM after the last sessions at the event wrap up. The Tap House Grill is right across the street from the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Seattle. We currently have 75 spots open for the dinner and you can get a ticket to get your seat. We may open up more seats if we fill up and if the restaurant can accommodate us.

Just for your information the Tap House Grill has 160 beers on tap and features many of the best microbreweries from the Northwest US.

Where -- Tap House Grille http://taphousegrill.com

When -- March 4, 2009 at 6:00PM

Why -- Why not!! Let's enjoy a dinner before we all go home from the Summit

RSVP tickets -- http://mvpsummitgeekdinner.eventbrite.com/

25 Things about me

cwoodruff — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 15:29:00 GMT

I wanted to get these things about me onto my blog and not just hidden on Facebook. Enjoy these things about me.

1. I was born in Flint, Michigan

2. I did not start talking until almost 2. I would use a sort of sign language to communicate.

3. I have 1 brother who is 3 years younger than me. He is now a doctor in Ann Arbor, MI

4. I love Michigan and plan on being here for a long time. I enjoy the seasons, the Great Lakes and Up North.

5. I am a die-hard Spartan and enjoy spending time on the Michigan State campus to energize me and renew my outlook on life.

6. I am afraid of public speaking and have worked hard to overcome it but still get nervous right before speaking events

7. I spent part of my childhood in Swedesboro, NJ in Southern New Jersey. The closest McD was over 30 miles away and we lived in a planned community called Beckett surrounded by apple and peach groves. Great way to grow up.

8. My parents divorced when I was 11 and we moved back to Michigan.

9. I got my first computer when I was 12 and it was a TRS-80... shortly after that I bought a used Apple II. I programmed BASIC on both

10. I have always wanted to dive with Great White Sharks and that is my #1 thing to do before I pass away.

11. I want to finally learn how to play golf well so I do not embarrass myself when playing with friends.

12. I have the best 3 kids a father could have... Spencer (b. 2000), Nolan (b. 2003) and Mallory (b. 2005)

13. The best vacation I have been on is to Disney World

14. I almost became a lawyer

15. I am a very shy person to get to know but once I know someone I am fine. That was my problem with meeting women growing up.

16. I really enjoy helping people and working with others to empower people and especially younger people.

17. I have hard time saying NO to people.

18. I once shot the family TV with a BB gun. Just chipped the screen but we had that thing for 7 years and I had to hear it from my Mom every day about it.

19. I was in the Boy Scouts and only enjoyed the camping part so I did not get my Eagle Scout award.

20. My dream vacation is to spend 2 weeks in Ireland and drink Guinness in a new pub with friendly people each night.

21. I wish I could play a music instrument. I played the Sax for a year and was told by my teacher that I should play sports.

22. I am a libertarian politically but not a card carrying member. I also sometimes call myself a South Park Republican.

23. The 3 moments in my younger life I remember most: Reagan getting shot, John Lennon killed and the Challenger Disaster

24. I became a true geek after reading a new magazine in 1993 called Wired in Seattle. It changed my life.

25. My favorite book is Dune.

Looking into the Crystal Ball about C# 4.0

cwoodruff — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 01:07:00 GMT

One of the most exciting announcements from PDC was the news about C# 4.0 and Visual Studio 2010. With all the excitement and discussion throughout the event about these new developer tools, we reached out to two experts in the fields. Charlie Calvert and Bill Wagner sat down with Keith and Woody to answer some questions and discussed their new books on LINQ and C# . We also have a short talk with Jason McConnell of the Surface team.

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Discussions with a Open Source Developer Turned Lawyer

cwoodruff — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 23:59:18 GMT

A long time ago in a Galaxy Far Far away I was a Linux zealot and developer. My home machines were all running Red Hat Linux and I loved the Gnome desktop. It has been a while since I last used Linux at home. With marriage, family and trying to actually trying to make a living did I drift away from Linux and the Open Source community. I relived those glory years recently when Keith and I interviewed Luis Villa about his involvement with Linux, Gnome, Open Source and now his study of the law to help future Open Source developers and companies. I loved discussing Luis views on Microsoft, Office 2007 and the Ribbon and Google. We talked so long that we had 2 episodes with Luis. Take a listen to both:

Part 1: Listen to the Show

Part 2: Listen to the Show

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Woody’s Video Review of Windows 7 on a Netbook Part 1

cwoodruff — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 06:22:40 GMT

Windows 7 on Netbook Cast 1 from Chris Woodruff on Vimeo.

Thanks to TechSmith for Camtasia Studio 6.0

Meet the Principal Group Manager of VSTS Test in Grand Rapids

cwoodruff — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 23:26:59 GMT

Mark Mydland is the Principal Group Manager of the Visual Studio Team System Test Edition team (that means that all program managers, developers, and testers on VSTS Test in Redmond report up to him). He is touring through Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee for a short time in November. Mark will be visiting companies during the day and speaking at user groups in the evenings. The user group talks are open to the public - this is a fabulous opportunity to speak directly with someone who created Visual Studio (and in fact runs the entire Test Edition team).

At the user groups, Mark will be delivering a technical talk on the new features coming in VSTS 2010, codenamed "Rosario". This talk encompasses “some architect stuff, some dev stuff, some cool research stuff for concurrency and for bounds checking, 3-tier execution and data recording (aka Tivo for debugging).” I purposely planned this tour to take place after PDC so Mark can discuss any new announcements made there.

This is also his team’s work: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10052412-56.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20. Cool, huh?

Want a preview of VSTS 2010? Mark is doing a number of user group talks that are open to the public. And did I mention that there will be free dinner and giveaways? Please stop by:

Grand Rapids, MI - Tues 11/11 at 6pm

Watermark Country Club, 5500 Cascade Rd, Grand Rapids, MI 49548