.NET Musings

Speaking

What a year this has been.  2009 started off with a bang at CodeMash where I presented a half day seminar on Test Driven Development.  I had no idea at that point how busy I would become with speaking engagements.  From User Group tours in Tennessee, Ohio, and Michigan to national conferences and all points in between, I gave a total of 60 talks! I covered 13 conferences (one of those virtual), 15 User Groups, Heartland ArcReady events, and other smaller events.

Conferences

• VSLive – Las Vegas, NV
• CodeMash – Sandusky, OH
• West Michigan .NET University
• Central Ohio Day of .NET, Wilmington, OH
• StirTrek – Columbus, OH
• Indy Code Camp – Indianapolis, IN
• Cincinnati Object Relational Mapping Fire Starter – Cincinnati, OH
• CodeStock – Knoxville, TN
• Lansing Day of .NET – Lansing, MI
• St. Louis Day of .NET – St. Louis, MO
• Cincinnati ASP.NET MVC Fire Starter – Cincinnati, OH
• Tyson Food Developer Conference – North West Arkansas
• NotAtPDC – NotAtPDC.com

User Groups

• Cincinnati .NET Users’ Group (CINNUG)– Cincinnati, OH
• Cincinnati SQL Server Users’ Group (CincySQL) – Cincinnati, OH
• Memphis .NET Users’ Group – Memphis, TN
• Nashville .NET Users’ Group – Nashville, TN
• East Tennessee .NET Users’ Group – Knoxville, TN
• Chattanooga Area .NET Users’ Group – Chattanooga, TN
• Cincinnati Financial Corp .NET Users’ Group – Cincinnati, OH
• Indy .NET Developers’ Association – Indianapolis, IN 
• Cincinnati Agile Round Table (CART) – Cincinnati, OH
• Cincinnati Software Process Improvement Network (SPIN) – Cincinnati, OH
• Kentucky .NET Developers’ Group – Louisville, KY 
• Northwest Ohio .NET Users’ Group – Toledo, OH
• Great Lakes Area .NET Users’ Group – Southfield, MI
• Greater Lansing .NET Users’ Group – Lansing. MI
• Central Ohio .NET Developers’ Group – Columbus, OH

Microsoft MVP

In April, I was awarded an MVP award for Client Application Development.  This is an incredible honor, and I couldn’t have ever achieved this without such a wonderful community here in the Heartland.  It really does take a village.  Thanks again to those who helped me on this journey!

Sad News

For all of the great things that happened in 2009, the year ended with two terribly sad notes.  Edward Smith, member of the Cincinnati .NET community passed away unexpectedly, as did my good friend from the fire department James Skidmore.  Both will be sorely missed by friends and family alike.

A Look Ahead

All of the ups and downs of 2009 were rather drastic.  Looking forward to 2010, I hope that the ups and downs are less drastic, and that overall if just works out to be a good year. 

The Book

I will be published for the first time!  (Ok, it’s only two chapters of a mini-book, but it’s still a first for me.)  My good friend Carey Payette asked me to pitch in and write some content on Windows Presentation Foundation for the forthcoming Wiley title “C# 2010 All-In-One For Dummies”.  Who knew writing book content would be so time consuming?  It was an interesting experience.  Not sure if my name will appear anywhere in the book, so you’ll have to take it on faith that I was actually involved!

Speaking

I already have some events lined up for 2010, kicking off with an entire day of Test/Behavior Driven Development at CodeMash 2010.  Please see the Speaking page for more information.

HopeMongers

I was fortunate to be involved in a community driven project to help the poor called HopeMongers (www.HopeMongers.org).  I initially was recruited to develop Unit Tests for the project, but due to some resource changes, ended up taking on the role of Application Architect.  Leading a project staffed with community  volunteers has some unique challenges, but we were able to work through them, and garner some good expertise in this area for projects moving forward.

Cincinnati .NET Users’ Group CINNUG

Lastly, at the end of the year elections, I was elected to the position of Lead Director for the local .NET Users’ Group.  I had been the speaker coordinator and an associate director for the past year.  I am looking forward to this challenge with the support of three awesome associate directors.

All in all, I hope you all had a great 2009 and an even better 2010!

Happy coding!