michael eaton

Day of .NET website

Wow.  What a great time!  If you didn't make it this time around, you missed out!

I arrived just before 9a, and after following the signs (which were just a bit too small, IMO), I found the check-in area.  Check-in was very smooth and well-organized.  I was given the feedback sheet (needed for the drawing at the end of the day), my name badge, the holder and the PocketMod schedule.  The names were just a bit too small, so as I walked passed people, I had to struggle to see who they were. :-)

No sooner had I checked in than Jason Follas greeted me.  I'm not sure if he heard me say my name when I checked in or if he recognized me from the picture on my blog, but it was nice to meet him.  If you recall, Jason (and Greg Huber) presented at the Dayton/Cinci Code Camp back in January.  They had issues, but overall, did a great job with their presentation.  We talked briefly about the schedule changes and then he pointed me in the direction for Bill Wagner's first session.  I was afraid of being late to the session, so I hope Jason doesn't think I blew him off because that was certainly not my intention. :-)

Bill's session was on Linq.  It was a great talk, but I really feel like I needed some exposure to Linq before sitting in his session.  The code and examples looked cool, but I had a hard time realling seeing how I could use it.  I guess this means I need to get off my butt and dig into it. :-)  Bill jumped between code and PPT quite a bit.  First he'd show the code then he'd review the details in PPT.

The next session I attended was Mark Miller's “Next Gen Refactoring“.  What a great speaker!  He not only did a great job engaging the audience, but he was funny too. :-)  He could probably read the directions off a can of paint and keep your attention.  He reviewed the built-in refactorings in VS.NET 2005 along with his company's “Refactor!“ product.  It's interesting to note that a limited version of their product is availble for VB.NET 2005.   The full-blown version of their product looks like it really kicks ass, especially for the freakin' low price of $99!  Of course, I'll have to make sure it works with ViEmu, because if it doesn't, it loses since I can't live without ViEmu.

One thing I found disturbing is that when Mark asked if there were VB developers in the audience that couldn't understand C#, people actually raised their hands!!  WTF?  I'm sorry...if you can write VB.NET code, you can write C# and vice-versa. :-\  Of course, maybe my standards are too high...

Before this session started, I spotted a former co-worker named Pradheep (sp?).  We worked together at Suckoia, but now he works with a couple of my friends at the Michigan State Court Adminstrative Office.

Lunch was better than expected.  Instead of the normal crappy boxed lunches, they ordered a ton of Domino's Pizzas!  Pradheep and I caught up during lunch.  We both agreed that exiting Sequoia (I quit, he, like many others, was laid-off) was the best thing that happened to us.  It led him to some great job opportunities and it kick-started my independence.

After missing each other at the Dayton Code Camp, Dan Hounshell and I finally met in person during lunch.

I had planned on attending Greg Huber's Ajax session, but after Mark Miller's refactoring session, I decided to sit in on his UI talk.  Again, Mark is a great speaker and the content of this session was awesome!  He definitely gave me (and I'm sure everyone else in the room) a lot to think about in terms of how we develop user interfaces.

Jim Holmes' Security session was great!  Before the session, I had a chance to talk to him and let him know how much I enjoyed the Dayton Code Camp.  Anyway, Jim is a great speaker.  His slide deck was (thankfully) very simple--just enough to lead into the discussion.  He is very knowledeable about security, and like the UI session, gave me a lot to think about.

The final session I attended was “Something Cool and ASP.NET” led by Josh Holmes.  This was an open Q&A session, which due to the simplicity of some of the questions, was brutal at times, but enlightening at others.  Josh did a good job of answering the questions and showed a great deal of patience with people who had a tough time actually forming an intelligent question. :-\

The giveaway was cool....they had a ton of loot.  I actually won a Working with Visual Studio 2005 Team System (which I already had so I gave this new copy to Pradheep).  Since I had another comittment (playing World of WarCraft with 2 of my friends until 2am Sunday morning) at 7:00p in Coldwater, I was out the door and heading home at 5:30, so I'm not sure who scored the really good loot. :-)

Overall, this was a great experience.  The presenters and content were excellent (not the normal dumbed-down crap you find at some of the bigger conferences).  I'm definitely going again. ;-)  Great job to all that had a hand in bringing this together!