Coding Geekette

Now that I'm back in the States, I have stories to tell.  Unfortunately, on my trip home from Hong Kong, I had a perfect situation for my SUX series.

While sitting in Newark, waiting for my flight back to Cleveland, I was playing with Microsoft Surface Collage on one of my portable Windows 7 machines, grabbing some of the pics from my trip and putting them in the collage.  Imagine my grumpiness when the collage I was working on disappeared... *poof*  In fact, the whole program closed.  And then I saw it... the dreaded installing and rebooting screen from an automatic windows update call.

No asking me if I wanted to reboot.  No confirmation that I had processes running and asking if the OS should end them.  No... instead, it was being "helpful" and closed everything.  It's a good thing I wasn't working on anything that important.

This experience is enough to remind me of why I turn off that option that lets updates download and install on their own.  Why does this behavior not act consistently with some of the other restart processes?  I like that it asks me if I want to force a shutdown while I have apps open on my desktop.

So this is my call to the team that works on the reboot process and the team that works on the automatic updates process of Windows Update - talk to each other and find a way to add a confirmation screen similar to the force shutdown screen to the automatic process.  It would make this user experience a lot less painful.

For now, my updates will download but I'll okay the install when I'm ready.  Ah the joys of dealing with a fresh install of Windows 7 and remembering which settings to avoid to get around the painful UXes...

If you're following me on Twitter, I'm sure you've seen my creepy pickup line experience that I've had recently.  Thankfully, that was my only bad experience at the world's largest electronics fair - the Hong Kong Electronics Fair (Autumn Edition) 2010.  While visiting the fair on its last day, my husband and I saw all sorts of devices that we won't see in the States for at least 6 months - Windows tablets, tablets loaded with multiple OSes (including one that switched between Windows and Android), eBook readers, and many other electronic gadgets.  We were lucky enough that our visit here to Hong Kong coincided with this event, and I'm very thankful that my hubby's uncle explored the fair before we arrived and was able to show us what we were interested in.

More details coming soon...

Why is it that I when I type "Zune Software" in my Title (as I write this post) I see a lot of SUX posts?  Really... this column wasn't created with the Zune software in mind, but its inconsistencies and lacking features really keep bringing it into the SUX spotlight.

When I listen to my Zune HD at work, I find that I enjoy using its repeat features.  I like that I can replay the current playlist or even the current song.  Some days, I find myself in a mood for a certain track and want to loop it over and over and over again.  So repeating the current track makes sense to me.

I could also see this feature being used for example at a wedding.  One of my friends recently got married, and while waiting for the bridal party to come in, we had to loop on of those classical pieces.  We used our friend's iPod to play the song (as he's an Apple fanboy), but a Zune HD could've easily been in its place.

Now here's where the Zune software and its inconsistencies come into play.  Today happened to be one of those days where I wanted to loop a song, and unfortunately, I found out that the Zune software doesn't have this "loop current track" feature.  Now I know it's a minor feature, but at the same time, I'm half-surprised not to see it there.  It would be nice if maybe the Zune HD peeps who work on the software on the device talked to the people who work on the software on the desktop - it would be great if they could put all of the features that are on the device also in the software on the desktop.  I'm just saying... from an end user point of view, consistency can be a great thing! 

I got an email this morning from my friend Matt Hester - followed by one a little later from Jennifer Marsman - about volunteer opportunities for the Imagine Cup.

As I mentioned in my post "Why Microsoft + Being a Student = Awesome", the Imagine Cup is a great chance for students to show off their skills and solve problems using technology.  There are competitions focusing on different aspects of technology, including:

• Software Design
• Embedded Development
• Game Design
• Digital Media
• IT Challenge

Ever since I saw the Samsung and LG devices that they've been using for Windows Phone testing, I've been hooked.  My poor Windows Mobile 6.1 phone gives me fits because it knows that it's going to get replaced with a Windows Phone 7 device.  From liking the features to seeing how easy it is to write a Windows Phone 7 app, I'm really looking forward to getting my own Windows Phone 7 phone.

Want to see how easy it is to write for the Windows Phone 7 platform?  Check out my friend Jeff Blankenburg's series that he's writing this October - 31 Days of Windows Phone 7!

While catching up on Twitter, I came across this post titled "Sex and the Single Geek Girl: Half a Geek Couple?".  I was curious to see what a single geek girl had to say, and I had to laugh.  Her experiences with geek guys who respond to her profile happen all too often with geek guys.  There are geek guys who are pure geeks with no idea of the culture and life outside of geekdom, and it seems like she's running into them.

I imagine if I were in the single boat, I'd feel a bit like her.  While I like having geeky conversations, I also like talking about things outside of geekdom.  I enjoy going on trips and hanging out with my friends - some who aren't geeks.  I like exploring areas and trying new things.   I like being able to take a break from technology and just enjoy nature.  

However, thankfully, I am not single.  Today marks 6 years of marriage to my high school sweetheart, who also happens to be a geek.  There's a lot I love about being married to a fellow geek, and these are just a few things:

1. When I get excited about a certain technology, I don't have to feel guilty that my husband has no idea what the heck I'm talking about.  He at least has some idea of what it is that's got me excited.

2. Tech gadgets as birthday presents, anniversary presents, random "I saw this and thought of you" presents... just awesome.  It really helps that we have that common bond.

3. When I'm frustrated about a certain technology, he can talk with me and help me see why some things aren't completely evil.  However, if he doesn't like it, he can also side with me and encourage my dislike of certain technologies as well.

4. I love having someone that I can cuddle up to while watching geeky shows.

However, while we're both geeks, we also bring other things to the table.  I enjoy hearing about Kevin's running adventures.  He humors me when I talk about shopping or seeing this thing on a cooking show.  We both also enjoy traveling and seeing what else is out there, so it's nice to just disconnect, hop on his motorcycle, and see what we can find.

And we have our geek differences as well - he's a Trekkie, and I am not.  He'll read sci-fi stuff, while I still find sci-fi to be too "weird" for me.   He likes playing with hardware - building computers, soldering things, and the like; whereas I'd rather be writing programs and playing with data.  So while we're both geeks, we've got those differences as well.

It's been a 13 year adventure so far - 6 of those married - and I'm looking forward to what lies ahead.  I'm half of a geek couple, and I'm still very much in love with my geek.

As I'm working on my Silverlight app and releasing it in the wild, I'm finding some cases that I would not normally deal with as a website developer.  The latest gotcha has been saving user settings.

So going back to my GiveCamp app idea... let's say that I want to give the end user a way to set a default GiveCamp.  I would need that piece of information stored somewhere.  I figured Isolated Storage would be a great spot for saving the data.  However, Silverlight doesn't support roaming profiles.  Normally, I wouldn't be concerned about that; I remember the headaches of roaming profiles from when I worked IT and I would love to chalk it up as yet another issue with roaming profiles.  But there's another part of me that wants to be able to save this data even if my end users are cursed with roaming profiles.

I'm sure I'm not the only Silverlight dev out there who's run into this.  Are there others out there who have run into the roaming profiles issue?  If so, what have you done to make your app accessible to users bound by roaming profiles?

I've been following Microsoft on Facebook and Twitter for quite awhile, and it's amazing to see what they have out there for students.  All I can wonder is ... why weren't these programs around when I was in school?!?  So check this stuff out...

DreamSpark

As some of you know, these programs have sparked my interest - WebsiteSpark, BizSpark, and yes, even DreamSpark.  I had originally heard about DreamSpark first and then about the others later.  I found it quite interesting to see just what DreamSpark entails.  So Microsoft is providing professional tools to classrooms and students alike, free of charge.  And we're not talking just 4-year colleges either - community colleges, vocational schools, and even high schools can get involved!  If you have a verified (confirmed usually by a school/organization/something that can verify the student status) Windows Live ID, then you can get access to a variety of Microsoft's products at no cost.  For more details, check out the DreamSpark FAQ.

Imagine Cup

Not only can you get their products, but you can also use their products to solve problems and compete against other students in the Imagine Cup.  The 2010 event already happened. There were 3 winners in each of a variety of areas - including Software Design, Embedded Development, Game Design, IT Challenge, and Digital Media. 

There's talk already of the 2011 Imagine Cup, as its finals will be held here in the US, in New York City.  The 2011 theme will be along the lines of the United Nations' Millenium Development Goals.  For more details. check out the 2011 theme page.  Ready to compete?  Then get planning to take over the world, as the Imagine Cup may be one small piece of code for you but may solve one giant problem! 

Microsoft Tech Student

Recently, they launched Microsoft Tech Student on Facebook.  It's a great way to reach students via social networking through a site that many students are familiar with.  It is also a great way to present what offerings are available for students.  Thanks to that page, I now know about XNA in Academia - yes XNA programming in schools!  How neat!

Academic Evangelists

Finally, I want to talk about another group of evangelists that work with academia, called academic evangelists.  These are the people who spread the word about Microsoft to those in academia.  Now you won't find them on the "Meet Your Local Microsoft Evangelists" site; I'm not sure why that is.  However, your local evangelists would be able to help find who the academic evangelists are. I know for sure that you can find a few blogging over on the Springboard blog.  They're a great resource for students and teachers when it comes to learning about the latest and greatest technologies and how to get involved in the community.

Conclusion

These are just some of the offerings that appear in the academic realm.  Seeing all of this makes me jealous!  If I had these available to me when I was in school, I'm sure I would be in a different place.  If you are a student or know a student who'd be interested in this, definitely check out what Microsoft has to offer - it's a wide world of opportunity out there!

Back in January at CodeMash, Joe O'Brien mentioned that it's a great thing when you find something you're passionate about and can run with it.  Someone in the audience asked what happens when you lose your passion.  That question really rang through my head, and I knew that I would eventually write the blog post to tackle it, when I felt the timing was right.  Now is that time.

Finding Something You're Passionate About

When I was growing up, I found that I was passionate about two areas in particular - music and programming.  While I loved playing music and enjoyed music theory, I knew though that programming came easier to me and would probably be the passion that would win out.  It all started with BASIC on an Apple IIE.  From there, I was hooked - I really liked being able to give a computer commands and then get a response back.  The excitement I feel when I'm working on a program though is only a small part of my passion for programming.  The other thing that tipped me off that it's something I'm passionate about and not just a job for me is the fact that I can explain what I do in simple terms.  My parents aren't technically inclined, but I can tell them what I do in non-technical terms and they understand what I do.  I can take the technology I love and make it seem fun and exciting and cool and not-so-scary to those who are technologically-afraid.

I'm also lucky enough to be married to a guy who's passionate about technology.  But he's more passionate about the servers, the hardware, the IT side of it all.  He's been tinkering with computers at least since his childhood - be it working on websites for a local Internet company or fixing others' computers or troubleshooting random computer problems.  He's awesome at what he does, and I love coming home to hear that he's learned how to work with this new technology or learned this new way of doing things.  It's great to have that excitement and passion, as it makes our jobs a lot easier.

Losing Your Passion

It happens to all of us, so if you've had this happen, know that you aren't alone.  Whether it's a job that isn't providing growth opportunities (and you don't have enough resources on your own to create those opportunities) or something else, it's possible to feel as if you've lost your passion.   It's hard when you know you have so much potential and want to learn so much but can't explore the things you're passionate about because you've hit a funk.  

You may even go through a period where you deny the very thing that you're passionate about - I went through that phase.  Shortly after I had started speaking in the community, I had run into a situation that had me second guessing myself.  Rather than going straight into the development world, I backed out of the dev realm and went into tech support and then into IT.  But the more I tried denying my dev side, the more depressed I felt in my job.  It took a dead end job with no room for growth - after being there long enough, I realized that it wasn't going to make me happy and that I needed to be in a job that would make me happy.  I needed to return to development.  Yes, it's possible for the passion to settle down and for you to even deny it.  But if it's meant to be, it'll be back.

Reigniting Your Passion

Returning to development was the best move I had made in a long time.  I had the challenges I yearned for, and I had a wide open road ahead of me, with plenty of technologies to learn.  I met my friend Russ, who got me into going into one of the .NET user groups here.  By meeting people just as passionate about technology as me, it started drawing that passion back out.  Once that started coming out, this blog came to be.  I eventually got into speaking and event organizing, and the rest... well yeah, you see how that's turning out!

What I'm saying here, though, is that it's possible to lose your passion for something and fall into a funk.  But don't lose hope when you get in that funk.  There are ways to get out of that funk.

- Find out what's causing the funk.  

• Did something change with the thing you were passionate about?  
• Did something change with you to change your feelings?

- Once you find out what's causing the funk, find out what it takes to get out of the funk.  

• If something changed with the thing you were once passionate about, re-evaluate it and see if it's really worth giving up.  If so, find another passion!  Life is too short to live in a haze of reality with a lack of passion.
• If something changed with you, see if it's something that can get sorted out on its own or if it's something that you could talk with others about on how to get it back.
• If you know of an idea that could help you get out of the funk but can't do it alone, then recruit others to help you out!

As I mentioned in my PyOhio recap, I finally met William McVey, who will be leading the Cincinnati Tech Events initiative.  I also have Catherine Devlin on board, being the first community member to volunteer to take lead on one of the sites and running the Dayton Tech Events initiative.  What you probably don't know is that there are others.

Finding the Need of the Tech Events Sites

When I was in college, I was introduced to the idea of user groups.  The Toledo Area Linux Users Group (TALUG) held their meetings in one of our engineering buildings, and since I was on campus, I found the location to be very convenient.  Add to it that it was about Linux, something that my friend Nivex had me look into over the summer leading into college.  So I attended a few TALUG meetings, and I really got a good vibe (even though they used to tease me because they knew I preferred Microsoft technologies).  In April 1999, I co-presented with Nivex, and I would give another presentation later that year.  I really liked this user group stuff.

After college, though, I returned home to Cleveland, as the economy continued going down the wrong road.  While I was getting settled working "in the real world", I had to wonder if there were any user groups.  My friend (and then co-worker) Martin mentioned that there was a Cleveland Linux users group.   While I enjoyed my time with TALUG, I knew I wasn't ready for another Linux user group.  I needed to find something more aligned with my Microsoft-friendly tendencies.

I eventually shifted jobs and moved into the IT realm (from tech support).  I was working in a situation that had me on call 24/7, with little time for me to even think about user groups.  I felt so disconnected and so burdened that it eventually wore on me.

Once I found a developer position, I had more time on my hands.  I work during business hours, but I have time after work to pursue my interests.  My friend Russ told me about this .NET developer user group that meets once a month that he thought I might be interested in.  So I checked it out, as I was excited to see a user group more inline with my preferences.  And this got me thinking again... are there other groups out there besides this group and the Linux users group?  For a city as big as Cleveland, I would've expected some easy way to find them.  But it just wasn't there.

If It's Not There, Make It There

I enjoyed going to that .NET user group, and in the next few months, I would add another .NET group and a SQL Server group to the list of user groups that I frequented.    As I found out about other groups, I kept thinking about putting together a site of the groups I was finding.  But then I realized that it would be a large, time-consuming task.  I was a little hesitant, as I really enjoyed my time after work and wasn't sure if I was ready to commit to such a project.

Fast forward to October 2008... I was home from work, fighting an unexplained case of bronchitis, and getting stir crazy at home.  My body was a physical disaster, but my mind wouldn't shut down.  So to appease my mind, I came up with a project to work on - that's how Cleveland Tech Events started.   I started with 4 or 5 user groups and then embarked on a search on the Internet for other groups.

The site has grown over the past couple years - over 40 user groups now and still growing.  People are talking about the site, and thanks to their suggestions, it continues to thrive.

If It's Successful, Grow It

After awhile, I realized that if Cleveland had this issue, what about the rest of my friends in OH and MI?  (I chose those two states because that's where a lot of my friends are and that's where I spend most of my time.)  Unfortunately, someone else has Detroit Tech Events.  However, I was able to grab some of the other localities - Lansing, Ann Arbor, and Grand Rapids for Michigan.  As for Ohio, I grabbed Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton, Canton, Akron, and Toledo.  

I started updating Columbus Tech Events, as Columbus is my home away from home.  After I got Cleveland and Columbus going, I caught others' attention - those who want a site like that in their area.  I got Dayton Tech Events set up, and Catherine Devlin has been running that operation since it opened.  William McVey will be running Cincinnati Tech Events, which will be transitioned over hopefully in the next couple weeks.

Looking for Leaders

The following sites are looking for a leader to run the community initiative:

• Columbus Tech Events
• Toledo Tech Events
• Ann Arbor Tech Events
• Lansing Tech Events
• Grand Rapids Tech Events