Blankenthoughts

There are three opportunities for you to get your "learn on," for FREE, in the next month.

April 19 - Central Ohio Day of .NET - Wilmington, OH
Registration has already maxed out for this one at 250 people! A great number for the third year of this event! They will have 27 different sessions to choose from, and on top of being a great day of learning, I am putting together a little event afterwards for anyone that is sticking around at the Roberts Centre that night. More on that at the end of this post.


May 10 - West Michigan Day of .NET - Grand Rapids, MI
The second year for this event, in Grand Rapids, MI. The day will focus on the future of .NET an cover all the world-class technology Microsoft has or will release this year. In addition, the day will consist of breakout sessions with breakfast and lunch included!



May 17 - Cleveland Day of .NET - Cleveland, OH
Cleveland Day of .NET is a free one day conference targeted at developers using the Microsoft .NET platform. It is a collaborative effort among the various local user groups and is open to all developers, local or otherwise. This event is occurring on Saturday, May 17, 2008 from 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM.

There will be numerous sessions to choose from covering a variety of topics. The exact session list will be coming in a few weeks but you can look forward to topics such as:

ASP.NET
Silverlight
DLR / IronRuby / IronPython
SharePoint / MOSS
SQL Server 2008
... many more





Poker .NET (Newbies Encouraged to Try)
I am hosting a Texas Hold'Em Poker Tournament for the first 20 responding attendees of the Central Ohio Day of .NET. It will be held at the Robert Centre, the evening of the CODODN. I've reserved a "parlor suite" that will accomodate us with a full (unstocked) wetbar, refrigerator, and furniture for hanging out. You are welcome to bring anything you'd like to eat and drink while you're there.

We will get started with the tournament at 8:00 PM...plenty of time to hang out with folks after the CODODN and still have some fun in the evening playing cards with your geek friends. The hotel room also has accomodations for sleeping, so if you were looking for a place to crash after the event, I can provide that for a few travelers as well.

The buy-in will be $20, and all of the rules, etc. will be provided when you arrive. Expect your standard Hold'em rules to apply. Please contact me directly at jeffrey.blankenburg@microsoft.com to "register."

Labels: .net, cincinnati, cleveland, cododn, columbus, day of .net, grand rapids, poker

      

So I know I just got back from an amazing conference in CodeMash, but I've got great news! I'm heading to Mix 07 at the end of April, thanks to the good folks at Quick Solutions. Brian Prince and the rest of the management team do nothing but support me and my technical growth. I can't thank them enough for the opportunities they have provided me.

It's taking place in the Venetian Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, NV from April 30 - May 2, 2007. I'll actually be heading out the morning of the 29th, and flying home to Columbus on May 3rd, so it should make for an exhausting trip. Based on the preliminary schedule of events, here's how I see my schedule going down:

April 29, 2006
7:00 AM - Get to the Columbus Airport, check in, go through security checkpoints, recover from cavity search.
9:00 AM - Take the flight to Sin City.
10:38 AM - Arrive in Las Vegas. We are now operating on Vegas time people, keep up.
10:39 AM - Lose my first $10 in a slot machine.
11:00 AM - Check in to the Venetian Hotel & Casino.
11:30 AM - Lose another $50 at the blackjack table.
12:00 PM - Grab some lunch.
12:45 PM - Wander the hotel, getting my bearings on where registration, session rooms, etc. are.
4:00 PM - Head over the registration, get checked in for the event.
5:00 PM - Sit down for a long night of Texas Hold-em at the Bellagio Poker Room (or maybe the Venetian Poker Room, it looks to be new)


April 30, 2006
1:00 AM - Go to bed.
8:30 AM - Head down to the Continental Breakfast. Mingle. Meet some people.
9:30 AM - Head over the Keynotes session. Ray Ozzie and Scott Guthrie are expected to be speaking. I really enjoyed Scott's talks at CodeMash, so I hope there is new material for Mix.
12:00 PM - Lunch
1:30 PM - Time for some sessions.


Um, I expected this blog post to be longer, but it doesn't appear that they have decided which sessions will be in which time slots. So, of the sessions that are listed on the site currently, here are the ones I expect to attend:


LINQing Your Web Applications - See how Language-Integrated Query (LINQ) allows for the most seamless integration of your Web applications and relational data. Get a sneak peek at the next version of the .NET Framework and Visual Studio (codenamed “Orcas”).

Driving Your Business through User Experience - Hear how tools, technologies and cutting edge design combine to create the user experiences that drive your business. See how a continuum of user experiences can be a powerful lever to differentiate the products and services you offer via the Web.

Gazing into the Future of Web Development - Be one of the first to see the big advances planned for the next version of ASP.NET for building rich Web applications. Get a sneak peek at technology to help simplify rich content, data, services and more. Learn how to efficiently and effectively create data-driven applications that fully leverage the power of “WPF/E” and AJAX on the client coupled with powerful server-side features provided by ASP.NET.

Thinking in CSS: How to Build Great Looking Sites - Delve into CSS with Molly Holzschlag, and look at the power CSS offers to Web developers and designers. Hear Molly's secrets about how to build stunning sites quickly and easily.

Five Real World Applications that Raise the Bar for User Experience - Come learn about five applications that will change what your customers will expect from tomorrow’s software applications.

IE7 Retrospective: Microsoft's Look at the Good, Bad and Ugly - Hear from Microsoft's IE7 team about the journey from mea culpa to broad market acceptance. Hear what went right, what had to be cut, and how development priorities are set. Learn how to minimize your Web browser support headaches, and move to a more standardized Web.

There are plenty more sessions planned, and my preference may change once I see which sessions are in which time slots. Expect to see many more posts about this in the near future. And for those of you that want me to put $1 on Red 32 for you while I'm there, start saving your pennies.

Labels: brian prince, codemash, CSS, drew robbins, HTML, IE7, jeff blankenburg, las vegas, linq, microsoft, mix, mix 07, poker, ray ozzie, scott guthrie, venetian, WPF, WPF/E