Microsoft OneNote, an Answer to Prayer

Since my business is growing, I find that I'm forgetting more and more things. If it doesn't fit neatly in a todo or a calendar event, I have trouble keeping track of it.

I've been asking people all over what they did to keep track of non-actionable data. Most of them had no answers for me. Beau Merseraeu said that he's using OneNote. I'm well-acquainted with the other Office products, but OneNote always seemed like tablet software to me. I was wrong.

If you read a quote that you want to remember, throw it in OneNote. If you see statistics to help you with a sales presentation....OneNote. I'm using it more and more. It's like having an online journal, but it is organizable, which allows for fast data retrieval. I love it and wish I hadn't wasted so much time not using it.

DigiGirlz - Blowing Away the Girl/Programmer Myths

I spent last Friday volunteering with DigiGirlz. This awesome event, sponsored by Microsoft, exposes High School age girls to technology. In one day, they learn programming, database querying, robotics, and video game programming. In between classes, they meet IT professionals who explain what life is like when you choose a career in technology. All of the girls had a great time and learned a lot.

Here are some myths that DigiGirlz helps debunk:

Myth #1: Girls don't like programming, math, or science.

False. While teaching some of these classes, I never saw a student waver in her interest. I never caught one texting on her cell phone. I never saw one not complete an assignment. When the programming class was over, many of them were disappointed that it ended. Many asked how they could program at home on their own time. Most of them thirsted for more.

Myth #2: Girls aren't good at programming.

Totally false. During a one hour SmallBasic class, I saw many students immediately understand the language constructs. Some girls only needed about 10 minutes of direction and they were free styling. By the end of the class, the girls were shocking me with the images and vectors they were programmatically drawing. They fluently understood the math, and could quickly grasp the creation of geometric shapes. I've seen adult programmers who struggled with concepts that the girls immediately learned.

Myth #3: Girls who do like technology and programming are basically boys (or aren't very cute.)

Lynn Langitt (SoCalDevGal) and Linda Routson (Microsoft Account Manager Extraordinaire) did a great job finding female instructors for these courses. They were all beautiful women who were professional, intelligent, and feminine. One was a programmer for a fashion company. These examples taught the girls that you can be good at traditional male professions without surrendering what you like about being a girl.

I think any girl would enjoy this event. Find more information here:

DigiGirlz

ASP.NET AJAX Still Flickering and Posting Back

We looked everywhere to solve this problem, and finally found this blog post. Neil clearly outlines the solution to our issue and it worked for us.

neil kilbride's blog

Mind Map Software - Free Mind

A friend of mine, Chris York, turned me on to mind mapping as a way to flush out projects and requirements. I love it.

Mind mapping is a way to document and diagram meeting notes, while the meeting is taking place. It allows the meeting to be a freeform expression of thoughts, while maintaining the general topic.

During meetings, conversations tend to move from one topic to another, seemingly directionless. This is an excellent place to capture salient points about a software or technology project, without overcontrolling the meeting. It can also help to avoid repetition, because you can go to a branch on the map and add or remove detail as needed.

You can also use mindmapping outside meetings to organize your own thoughts and projects. It will help you take a general idea and create concrete action items and ToDos.

Here's some info on mindmapping:

Mind Map Wikipedia Entry

Here's FreeMind, an open source, java software package that will help you implement it:

FreeMind

Quote from David Kekich and others.

Anxiety is caused by a lack of control, organization, preperation, and action.
-David Kekich

Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought.
-Henry Bergson

It is not enough to stare up the steps; we must step up the stairs.
-Vaclav Havel

Thomas Edison and Bill Maher

Here are a couple more quotes:

"People would rather be nice than right, rather be sensitive than be true. Well, being nice and sensitive are important, but they're not more important than being right; they're not more important than the truth."
Bill Maher

"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work"
Thomas Edison

Favorite Quotes

I was out to dinner with some friends and was going through a few of my favortie quotes. I realized that I don't have any posted, so here they are:

*All comments are written in first person by Ike.
"Reduce everything to it's essence, so that form harmonizes with function"
Cris Kobryn
Chair, U2 Partners' UML 2.0 Submission Team

"If we pursue the parsimony koan to its full intent, we should find UML modeling projects to be as enjoyable as we found finger-painting and drawing classes in grammer school."
Cris Kobryn
Chair, U2 Partners' UML 2.0 Submission Team

"Do not rely on Rigid, Inefficient Processes (RIP)."
Steve McConnell
Software Project Survival Guide

"Early in the project you can have firm cost and schedule targets or a firm feature set, but not both."
Steve McConnell
Software Project Survival Guide

"There is a word for software that cannot be changed after delivery. That word is hardware."
Ward Cunningham
co-Inventor of Extreme Programming
Preface to Extreme Programming Pocket Guide

"The problem with quick and dirty is that dirty remains long after quick is forgotten."
Unknown

"As a programmer writing computer programs, you must develop a very special relationship with a shadowy being who lurks just beyond the periphery of your vision. At the same time needy, confused, angry, and malicious, that person is known to you only as The User."
Charles Petzold
Programming in the Key of C#

"Some people hold the view that the UML should be used to create a design that is independent of the programming language that's used for implementation. Others believe that language-independent design is an oxymoron, with a strong emphasis on the moron."
Martin Fowler
UML Distilled
I agree with this on most topics, not just on software design, ie database design, T-SQL authoring, multi-platform development. -Ike

"Question: What is the difference between a methodologist and a terrorist?
Answer: You can negotiate with a terrorist."
Martin Fowler
UML Distilled

"You should use iterative development only on projects that you want to succeed.
Perhaps that's a bit glib, but as I get older, I get more aggressive about using iterative development."
Martin Fowler, espousing Extreme Programming
UML Distilled

"Often, you'll find that the more stable packages tend to have a higher proportion of interfaces and abstract classes."
Martin Fowler, espousing Polymorphism
UML Distilled


"The real moments of discovery aren't when someone shouts "Eureka", but when someone mumbles, "Hmmm....that's wierd." "
Carl Sagan

"Too often, however, the metaphor is used to assert that the child class inherits the internals of the parent class, an allusion to the fact that biological organisms inherit the DNA structures of their parents. This is a poor and potentially misleading use of the metaphor....
The desire for a child class to inherit internals of its parent classes can be better accommodated if we change the notion of inheritance from DNA to assets. It has been noted that an object has access to whatever resources it needs to fulfill its behavioural expectations. "
David West
Author of Object Thinking

"The best programmers are up to 28 times better than the worst programmers, according to "individual differences" research. Given that their pay is never commensurate, they are the biggest bargains in the software field."
Robert L. Glass
Author of Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering