May 2007 - Posts

24 May 2007
And Then There Were 29
Today marks the beginning of my 30th trip around the sun (I'm 29 for any math challenged folks). Just so everyone knows, I plan on staying 29 for a few years, so we won't be celebrating next year this time. This birthday will be low key...eating at a local Greek restaurant with friends and family, followed by some dancing: My favorite DJ (James Zabiela) is in town tonight, and he's always absolutely incredible. So, happy birthday to me! Read More...
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24 May 2007
A General Generics Question -- Don't Fight The Compiler
I've got a pretty firm grasp on generics such as when to use them, why they are useful, etc. I'm with the rest of the .Net camp when I echo how extremely useful they are. I've also learned that if you're fighting the compiler on generics for more than a few minutes, there is a reason as to why what you are doing is wrong. The above held true until earlier today when I was left scratching my head over some code that IMO should have compiled just fine. Nothing explains coding problems better than code, so here goes an attempt at an explanation. I have the following class declaration: public class ChannelViewChangedEventArgs < T > : ViewChangedEventArgs < T > where T: ChannelCollection < IChannel > And this class declaration: public class ChannelView < T > : ContentView < T > , IChannelView < T > where T : class , IChannel, new () Later on in the ChannelView class I try to new up the ChannelViewChangedEventArgs like so: new ChannelViewChangedEventArgs... Read More...
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22 May 2007
I'm Not In Seattle...Not Yet At Least
I've had a few readers ask me how the new gig is going, how's Seattle, etc. While I'm not exactly trying to stay hidden (making the occasional post over on CS.org, and a few Twitters here and there) I've definitely been lower profile than usual. I'm actually not in Seattle yet. The initial schedule was to have me out there on the 7th of this month but it didn't happen due to 2 words: Background check. Nothing is actually wrong, it's just taking longer than expected, and MS only offers initial training for my position once a month so the next window is the 4th of June. Seeing as I can't commit to any new freelance work, it's been a very slow couple of weeks. I do have a pet project I'm working on on the side (and had a very productive self imposed sprint last week where I hit my a major milestone. One more before giving it the "ready for beta" stamp of approval). Other than that, it's a bunch of hurry up and wait. Background checks. I... Read More...
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01 May 2007
Initial Premier Field Engineer Training -- Off To Seattle Soon
So things appear to be rolling forward nicely as far as getting started with my new gig over at Microsoft. I'll be flying out to Seattle on May 6th for the 3 weeks of training that all Premier Field Engineers (PFE's) go through. Most of the training will be at Microsoft's Sammamish campus with a couple of days at the main Redmond campus (MS has 3 large campuses in and around Seattle...Issaquah is the 3rd). Following that 3 weeks of training, I'll do another month of shadowing other .Net PFE's before MS turns me loose on my own assignments. To commemorate my new job, I'm starting a new category: Life Inside Microsoft which will cover various topics about...well, life at MS. For now I'll keep all posts on this blog, but who knows what might happen in the future as I get more acclimated and have more to write about. Perhaps start a new blog, join one of the MS blogging sites...who knows. I can't think that far ahead right now. I've never been to Seattle... Read More...
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