It's coming this weekend! X-Men: The Last Stand is released as of Friday and we're going to celebrate immediately.

If you would like to Fandango, click <<here>>.

What: Portland Nerd Dinner Movie
Where: Century 16 Cedar Hills Crossing (Cedar Hills Crossing used to be Beaverton Mall)
When: Friday, May 26, 5:20 PM (Get there early if you can! It's opening night!)
Why: 'Cuz it's the coolest movie this year!

Be There and Be Square!

I finally got the Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 (sheesh! what a mouthful) and I do love it. So much so that I bought a second one for the office.

One thing I keep wishing with the MS keyboards, though, is to trade in the 'zoom' button for a scroll like the what you get with the mice. The customization software just doesn't offer such a feature. Well, of course, someone has found a way to 'hack' it.

Andy Atkinson has an article showing how to make such changes. The only addendum I would provide is that with my drivers, the file to run is "itype.exe" instead of "type32.exe"

Very handy... heck, what else can I change in here....

WHAT:	April PADNUG Meeting
WHEN:	Wednesday 04/26/2006 6:00 p.m. Pizza, Sponsored by 3Leaf 6:30 p.m. Presentation
WHERE:	PCC Auditorium at Capital Center 18640 NW Walker Road Beaverton, Oregon The auditorium is in room 1508 through entrance B. There is a $2 parking fee. The kiosk for paying for parking is located between entrances B and C.
WHO:	Rory Blyth Rory is an author, former co-host of the .NET Rocks Internet talk show. He has experience with many different platforms and languages, but his passion lies in using and helping people with .NET technologies.
TOPIC:	Developing on Windows Mobile A Presentation on Developing on Windows Mobile.

Looking forward to seeing you all there!

It's that time again! Nerd Dinner!

Can you believe the great weather we're having this April?!? Let's celebrate the coming of this wonderful spring by getting together for some crappy mall food out Lloyd Center way...

What: Portland Nerd Dinner
Where: Lloyd Center Food Court (Third Floor; typically, straight out from Billy Heartbeats - 2039)
When: Tuesday, April 25, starting around 6:30 PM
Why: Look Folks! It's Spring!

Be There and Be Square!

Come out to this months meeting to learn some more about Atlas (Microsoft's upcoming implementation of AJAX).

The reason is that although the hype around AJAX is sure to fade, the technology itself will be around for a long time. That is, AJAX/Atlas helps solve a long-standing problem (avoiding server round-trips), and this allows web applications that are (potentially) more responsive.

WHAT:	March PADNUG Meeting.
WHEN:	Wednesday 03/29/2006 6:00 p.m. Pizza, Sponsored by 3Leaf 6:30 p.m. Presentation
WHERE:	PCC Auditorium at Capital Center 18640 NW Walker Road Beaverton, Oregon The auditorium is in room 1508 through entrance B. There is a $2 parking fee. The kiosk for paying for parking is located between entrances B and C.
WHO:	Erik Mork Erik was trained as a biochemist. Currently, he works for Tranxition Corporation where he is heading up development of a secret application that will change how users manage their personal data.
TOPIC:	Atlas Shrugged A Presentation on Atlas. While Microsoft only released a preview of Atlas, it is becoming increasing clear when the next-generation of web applications are made, they will be made (at least in part) with Atlas.

Looking forward to seeing you all there!

Awesome time to have a Nerd Dinner again!   

It's that time again! Nerd Dinner!

I suppose we could wait a day and have a wonderfully nerdy Saint Patrick's Day, but hey, even some nerds do that social kinda thing on Friday nights. So, we'll just have to start a bit early and call it St. Patrick's Eve.

What: Portland Nerd Dinner
Where: Washington Square Food Court (Second Floor; typically, straight out from Picture People)
When: Thursday, March 16, starting around 6:30 PM
Why: 'Cuz we can't wait for St. Pat's

Be There and Be Square!

[http://nerddinner.com/blogs/portland/archive/2006/03/10/20781.aspx]

All I can say is: Wow! Nick, you really did a great job!

For those that missed it, Nick effectively showed how the .NET Framework already supports all that is neccesary to make LINQ possible by implementing the SELECTion bit in his own namespace. Then, dazzled by switching to the packaged namespace without changing the code.

If you would like to grab the presentation and/or code examples, <<click here>>. You too will be able to write code like this one day:

Okay, got that? Now, imagine 'driving' forward and on down the street. Without leaving your keyboard. That's the thought behind a new service on Windows Local Live. You can visit downtown Seattle or San Francisco with this and it is very cool.

I can just imagine when we have the best of Windows Local Live, Google Local, and Google Earth combined in a single product. Then, add in some live sat coverage... wait, no... that's not a good idea .

[Thanks to Omar]

This is just the coolest gadget! Heavens, we've got at least a dozen of these little tins around the house ourselves.

Throw a 9v battery into the Altoids tin and you've got a quick charge for any device that can charge through a USB port.

The best part is Aaron is selling the parts for building this from his site for a very reasonable price.

Even though I don't think I have any devices that would use this, I'm tempted to pick one up to support the effort and, what the heck, just in case.

Isn't it nice to know that there are people out there thinking of these kind of things?

Come out to this months meeting to learn some more about how you may be using LINQ to improve productivity in your projects.

"The LINQ Project is a codename for a set of extensions to the .NET Framework that encompass language-integrated query, set, and transform operations. It extends C# and Visual Basic with native language syntax for queries and provides class libraries to take advantage of these capabilities."
(http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/future/linq/)

Personally, I find this technology very compelling.

WHAT:	February PADNUG meeting.
WHEN:	Wednesday 02/22/2006 6:00 p.m. Pizza, Sponsored by 3Leaf 6:30 p.m. Presentation
WHERE:	PCC Auditorium at Capital Center 18640 NW Walker Road Beaverton, Oregon The auditorium is in room 1508 through entrance B. There is a $2 parking fee. The kiosk for paying for parking is located between entrances B and C.
WHO:	Nick Muhonen Nick is a Portland area consultant with over 5 years experience in the .Net Framework. He is currently certified as both an MCT and an MCSD.
TOPIC:	How LINQ Will Improve Your Everyday Life A Presentation on the LINQ tool-set and the upcoming .Net C# 3.0 language extensions. The topic will compare current methods of Data retrieval in ADO.Net 2.0 with the new LINQ Tools. And of course- DEMOS for the faithful!

Looking forward to seeing you all there!

We had an excellant turnout to send ChrisT on his way to Redmond last night. He sure as heck didn't have that 'holier than thou' attitude I was afraid of, either .

You may click the picture for a larger version

Thanks everyone for making such a wonderful time last evening. And Thank You Jason for bringing a camera to make our own Last Supper artwork!

Thanks to Mr. Tallent, I've had a great laugh today.

Someone went to some work .

Many of you are probably in the know: Chris Tavares is going to be leaving the Portland area soon. He's taken up with this little software company in the Redmond, Washington area and we want to send him off right.

Fortuantely, Chris was able to get out of a trip north for some silly house-closing deal. Folks haven't told him how nice the sidewalks are up there yet.

And if you don't get the whole Last Supper deal, please feel free to contact Ted. 

What: Portland Nerd Dinner
Where: Washington Square Food Court (Second Floor; typically, straight out from Picture People)
When: Thursday, February 9, starting around 6:30 PM
Why: Because it's ChrisT's Last Supper!

Be There and Be Square!

Guess what Friday brings? It's Rich and Jesann's tenth anniversary!

To celebrate, Jesann turned the little electric Christmas tree in to our Anniverary Tree. The picture here does not do it justice - it's beautiful.

I'll tell you... I can't imagine not having Jesann in my life and I sure as heck wouldn't want to. She has made me a better person and (mostly) kept me out of trouble.

Thanks for marrying me, Jesann. I'm looking forward to the next ten years! They are going to be great!

As noted below, last year, we happened to choose the same date for the first Portland Nerd Dinner of the year. Is there meaning in this?

Wow! Talk about ironic - we had our first Nerd Dinner of 2005 on January 12, too. But, to mix it up a bit, we've moved the 12th to a Thursday this year instead of a Wednesday. I'm sure you will all appreciate the change.

What: Portland Nerd Dinner
Where: Lloyd Center Food Court (Third Floor; typically, straight out from Billy Heartbeats - 2039)
When: Thursday, January 12, starting around 6:30 PM
Why: Because it's a whole new year!

Be There and Be Square!

http://nerddinner.com/blogs/portland/archive/2006/01/08/15973.aspx

I found out recently that my nephew, Jeff, is selling his beautiful home in Carnation, Washington. It's a 2,870 square foot custom built home with one of the most fabulous kitchens around. Darn reasonable drive for any of you Microsoftees out there .

The description from the Coldwell Banker site:

Custom Northwest Design with unique features not found in other area homes. The gourmet kitchen will delight you from the copper countertops to the travertine sink. The island features a riverrock front,log footrails, and accent lighting. Top of the line appliances/cabinetry. Open floor plan with the great room featuring a floor to ceiling riverrock fireplace. The upper level bonus room overlooks the great room below. First floor master suite w/double headed shower(s) & 6' antique clawfoot tub.

He's just one block from Lake Joy (link, but an annoying cursor) and a wonderful community.

I think it's a shame that he's selling it, but his job has moved farther north and he figures he can build a new one much closer.

I found this idea from Michael Swanson's blog inspiring. Carry a stack of cards with you to let people know when a bit of kindness has found its way to them.

Now, I'm all for providing such deeds anonymously, but there are two important reasons to hand out this card:

1. Allow someone to know that good things can happen to them and that one just did.
2. Motivate one more person to provide a good deed to another.

Hey, enough people started doing this daily, we might just have a problem wiping the smiles off of everyone's faces. Give it a try!

I'm sure I've seen this picture somewhere before, but I just get such a kick out of it. Via Warner Crocker's blog and from The J-Walk Blog, we get to see what happens when air traffic controllers are not paying enough attention.

(It's okay kids, it wasn't the real Santa.)

p.s. We finally got around to watching The Polar Express tonight... wow. Somewhere between Miracle on 34th Street and It's a Wonderful Life, we really enjoyed it.