Lately I have been extremely busy helping with the We Are Microsoft – Charity Challenge Weekend. Well that weekend is almost here I am am extremely excited! The list of charities that were put together were absolutely amazing, the people organizing the event are extremely talented, and the event promises to be extremely high energy! The Bartlesville .NET User Group, that I am the President of, has put together a very good team of developers to compete in this challenge, and we promise not to take...

For those of you that may know, and those of you that don’t, I was scheduled to go to PDC 2008. The the inevitable happened. We ended up having issues with a third party vendor the week before I was scheduled to go. We also ended up having other issues and scheduling conflict that all came together to mean one thing, I MISSED PDC! I was so excited, I had never been a part of an organization that was will for me to go to one of the top conferences. But, the world’s aligned to keep me from my dream....

I was perusing Zain Naboulsi’s blog today catching up on my blog reading and I noticed a post he had that I knew I needed to pass on. If you have ever had the pleasure to attend one of Zain’s presentations or hear him speak on one of his webcasts probably one of the first things you notice about Zain is that he is a very prolific speaker. One of my New Year’s resolutions is to work on my presentation skills, and Zain is someone who I would like to be more like in my presentations. Zain spoke at the...

We had out November Bartlesville .NET User Group Meeting on 11/14/2008. It was an amazing meeting! We had 55 people in attendance. There were 48 developers and 7 recruiters. This was an amazing turnout. I was actually a bit nervous going into the meeting as only 25 people had RSVP'd. However, I knew with the reminders and the marketing I put out the weeks before the meeting that we would have a great turnout. And we did!! It was an amazing presentation by Raymond Lewallen on Behavior Driven Development....

Being a user group leader (Bartlesville .NET User Group) I get a lot of messages for recruiters looking for jobs. Given the current market situation I like to pass these on. This one looks pretty interesting. If you are interested give Darbi a call and let him know I sent you: Know anyone (maybe you) who might be interested in the following position? It is located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It is a direct hire position with a great company. If you are interested or know someone who is, send me a...

Manning Publications Co. has some great books. Ever since I first heard that MVC was coming to ASP.NET I was extremely excited. I have always preferred the MVC pattern over the MVP pattern that ASP.NET used. Most of the information on MVC for ASP.NET is limited or not as in depth as I would like. I have created multiple MVC applications just by using Reflector to learn more about the runtimes. However, being a book junky, and one that really enjoys the early access program at Manning Publications...

I received the following email the other day: Jason, We would like to extend our thanks for your participation in the INETA Community Champion program and your commitment to the developer community. You faced some challenging competition yet your accomplishments speak for themselves. The Community Champion team is thrilled to inform you that you are one of our top ten winners for Q3 2008. Congratulations Jason! INETA will be announcing the winners this week in our November INETA Newsletter as well...

I recently updated my web hosting from MaximumASP to Mosso. This was primarily because MaximumASP does not allow MySQL on their virtual dedicated servers, and I cannot afford a full dedicated server. MaximumASP always provided great service, and I still use them for my websites that requires solutions such as Windows Sharepoint Services, or other packages that must be installed via Remote Desktop. However, for the majority of my sites I have moved them on to Mosso and I will not look back. Mosso...

Below are the slides I used during the presentation I gave at Tulsa Techfest 2008. There were many people at this presentation. It was a great time! I will be posting all the demos here shortly. Tulsa Tech Fest2008 Service Oriented Development With Windows Communication Foundation View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: tulsa tech)...

Below are some links to the slide deck I used during my presentation at Tulsa Techfest 2008. The presentation went real well and was a lot of fun. It was awesome to teach people about Speech Application Development that have not been exposed to it in the past. Speech development is something I am passionate about, but have been out of it as far as professionally developing on it with my day job. Enjoy! I will be posting the demos for the presentation here later. Tulsa Techfest 2008 - Creating A Voice...

I found this really cool library today. #usblib(SharpUSBLib) is a wrapper around the libusb project. If you need access to USB ports in your .NET applications you should check out this library here. I was successfully able to utilize this library to interface with my Motorola ROKR phone. Next step is to figure out how to write a Sync application using this library for my ROKR. Pretty cool library with lots of applications...

I just received this email from my contact at JetBrains: A quick update on the JetBrains User Group Giveaway program... 1) We’re happy to extend this giveaway for another year – at least until the end of 2009. Your work in the community is something we all admire, and we’d like to thank you for your efforts. 2) We are expanding the program to support a lot more User Groups – .NET, Java, Groovy, Ruby, Google, and Agile. If you want us to support any other groups, let me know! 3) We’re also expanding...

Here is the slide deck from my presentation on SOA with WCF that I delivered to the Tulsa Developers .NET Group 9/29/2008. If you live around Tulsa and have not been to one of their meetings check out the Tulsa Developer .NET website and give them a shout. David Walker has a great group of people there and they are doing great things like Tulsa Techfest. Also, don't forget to check out the Bartlesville .NET User Group while your in Oklahoma. Service Oriented Development With Windows Communication...

Here are the slides from my presentation at the Bartlesville .NET User Group on Design Patterns. Enjoy! Bartlesville Dot Net User Group Design Patterns View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: design patterns) NOTE: If you attended my presentation or have enjoyed my presentation I would love it if you would let me know what you thought by leaving a recommendation for Speaker: Design Patterns in C# here http://www.linkedin.com/in/...

Here are the slides from a presentation I did for the Bartlesville .NET User Group on Service Oriented Development with Windows Communication Foundation. These slides are a subset of a much larger presentation I do. The slides cover the basics behind Service Oriented Architecture/Development and over view of the power behind Windows Communication Foundation. Because of time constraints this presentation does not include all the detail and demos that the larger presentation consists of. Enjoy! NOTE:...

I thought I needed to post this as it took me a while to find the official MySQL drivers for .NET and VS2008. I found the drivers here. The current version 5.2 has the following features: A new profile provider has been implemented along with a fully revamped provider schema. New bulk loading and script execution classes are available. The ability to clear a single or all connection pools. Integration into Visual Studio 2008 MySqlDataAdapter now supports batching BINARY(16) columns are now treated...

Ok, so I was having an issue with the new Micro SD card I bought for my cell phone. The cell phone manufacturer said it would work since their phone supported SDHC cards. However, after trying to format with every possible format Windows Vista offered still no luck. I decided to Google the issue and I found on the SD site this formatter, with a disclaimer saying generic OS formatters do not format the cards to SD specifications. After using this utility my problems are solved. The card works. You...

I found this video that would be pretty funny, if it were not so true! Watch the video and see if you sympathize with your developers...

I just found out today that the Bartlesville .NET User Group I started has now become an official INETA user group! This is great news for the group as it will just help us continue to grow. If you are ever in Oklahoma stop by and say Hi. Technorati Tags: Bartlesville,Bartlesville .NET User Group,BDNUG,User Group,INETA LiveJournal Tags: Bartlesville,Bartlesville .NET User Group,BDNUG,User Group,INETA del.icio.us Tags: Bartlesville,Bartlesville .NET User Group,BDNUG,User Group,INETA IceRocket Tags:...

I really enjoyed this video on Advance ASP.NET from Channel 9. I was listening to it today at work and found there were a few tidbits of information gold. geekSpeak recording: Advanced ASP.NET with Michele Leroux Bustamante Technorati Tags: ASP.NET,Channel 9 LiveJournal Tags: ASP.NET,Channel 9 del.icio.us Tags: ASP.NET,Channel 9 IceRocket Tags: ASP.NET,Channel 9 43 Things Tags: ASP.NET,Channel 9 BuzzNet Tags: ASP.NET,Channel 9...

There is a good video on practicing test driven development on ASP.NET's website. You can view the video here. If your new to TDD this should be of interest to you. Technorati Tags: TDD,Test Driven Development,Training,.NET LiveJournal Tags: TDD,Test Driven Development,Training,.NET del.icio.us Tags: TDD,Test Driven Development,Training,.NET IceRocket Tags: TDD,Test Driven Development,Training,.NET 43 Things Tags: TDD,Test Driven Development,Training,.NET BuzzNet Tags: TDD,Test Driven Development,Training,.NET...

I just found these videos on ASP.NET for Team Foundation Server. I find that many developers new to .NET could learn a lot from these videos. Almost any developer could learn something or two from at least one of the videos. Check them out at let me know what you think. Team Foundation Server Training Videos Technorati Tags: ASP.NET,Team Foundation Server,TFS,.NET,.NET Framework,Training LiveJournal Tags: ASP.NET,Team Foundation Server,TFS,.NET,.NET Framework,Training del.icio.us Tags: ASP.NET,Team...

Tulsa Techfest 2008 is right around the corner. Last years, event was the best ever and this years promises to be even better. I will be doing 3 presentations during the event. If you would like to learn about Voice Application Development, SAML and Single Sign on With C# .NET, or SOA with Windows Communication Foundation, the check out the site and my sessions here...

I have been a big fan of Launchy for some time. I find that it helps me be just a tiny bit more productive each day. It at least let's me not have to search through my start menu for the program I want to launch. However, today I found a new alternative provide by Microsoft Office Labs. This application has some real potential to replace Launchy on my laptop. I will continue to use and let everyone know what I find out. Check it out here: http://www.officelabs.com/p...

Well the Bartlesville .NET User Group had it's August meeting and we had a great turn out! We had 34 people show up for David Walker's presentation on Building Powerful WebParts for Sharepoint 2007. David did a great job in showing the power of properly built WebParts in SharePoint. Specifically he showed off a open source project that he has been working with other's on. You should check out PowerQueryWebPart if you do Sharepoint development...

Ok, I was going into Control Panel (Classic View) and noticed another MobileMe icon! Check it out below: The plot thickens...

Ok so I was having issues with my wireless connection so I went into my Network and Sharing on my Vista Ultimate PC. I found the following: Notice the MobileMe Preferences? Has Microsoft loaded this through a service pack or update? Or has iTunes loaded this through one of their updates? I don't subscribe to MobileMe and it isn't something I chose to install. I wish software vendors would stop forcing their wears on us. I assume this is Apple doing this as they did the same thing with Safari. I will...

I happened to find a cool new application over the weekend, Fring. Fring is a mobile internet service & community that enables you to access & interact with your social networks on-the-go, make free calls and live chat with all your fring, Skype®, MSN® Messenger, Google Talk™, ICQ, SIP, Twitter, Yahoo!™ and AIM®* friends using your handset’s internet connection rather than costly cellular airtime minutes. I find that even on my crappy GPRS connection Fring works remarkably well. You can check...

So I stumbled upon a cool new utility for web testing called Browser Shots. Browser shots will provide screen shots of the URL you send it in many different browsers. The full list of browsers can be seen here: As you can see from the image, you have the ability to select from multiple OS's and their browsers as well as set the Screen Size, Color Depth, whether Javascript is off or on, whether Java is off or on, and whether Flash is installed. This application is free, however you do have to wait...

As a member of the IT Applications Development and Support team, the successful candidate will: · Work with a team to develop modules, reports and processes within SolArc’s RightAngle architecture · The candidate should have a good working knowledge of Right Angle IV · Interact with accounting and back office personnel to define and document their system and information requirements · Perform business and technical analysis and design of business requirements and generate functional and tech

As President of the Bartlesville .NET User Group I get many people asking me if I know of people looking for jobs. I have decided to start posting the positions on my blog as well hoping to help the companies in Bartlesville find skilled developers. Description: Seeking one mid to senior level developer for a local Bartlesville company (not ConocoPhillips). This position will revolve around Windows Forms and Applications development with a focus on mobile devices. The right person for this position...

I was notified on July 1st that I placed 4th in June for Community Credit involvement. Most of my point came in related to my recently starting the Bartlesville .NET User Group. Community Credit is a pretty cool site that awards you points based on your involvement in the development community. Certain actions are worth more points than others. At the end of the month winners are notified on what "useless gadget" they win. Some of the prizes are pretty cool, and most will entertain the inner geek...

So we had out July meeting for the Bartlesville .NET User Group. It was an amazing meeting! If you have never seen Zain Nabousli speak then I suggest you try attend the next live event he is speaking at our check out his webcasts. Zain is a very dynamic speaker that keeps even the most sceptic of people fully engaged and entertained. The content of his presentation was LINQ with Visual Studio 2008. Zain's presentation was very to the point and very informative, and exactly what the audience had hoped...

I stumbled upon this cool new tool called PhoneVite today. I went ahead and signed up for the free account. I am hoping that I can use this to help with the organization of the Bartlesville .NET User Group. I am thinking that I can setup multiple phone calls under the free account (the free account only allows 25 contacts). I can then setup phone reminders for the day of the meetings to remind people to attend. I also plan on trying to use this tool to see if I can drive participation in the websites...

Ok, I have been trying out Microsoft's new Live Writer product. Although, I find the product extremely helpful, I keep running into the same error. It seems to happen to me everytime I hover over certain links. It is starting to really get annoying. Below is the error. I so far enjoy Windows Live Writer, but if I cannot find the source of this error, I may have to stop using it...

I found a new Twitter toy today. It is called TweetMyPage. It is not an application that needs an installer. You setup your settings and TweetMyPage gives you a javascript you add to your bookmarks. When you are reading a page you want to Twitter, you click on your TweetMyPage bookmark and it will ask you for your Twitter user id and password. Once you give it your credentials it will tweet a message similar to the following: Reading (http://linktoarticle) title of article. Currently TweetMyPage...