The End of 2005

Another year is almost over. For me and mine, it was a pretty good one. No major disasters or illness. Having my family safe and well (and me too!) makes any frustrations pretty trivial. Just about 15 minutes away from the new year. All the kids are up; getting them to church tomorrow is going to be painful.

The last two weeks; which I have spent on vacation; have been great. I have really been able to relax and prepare for the new year. Did fun things with the kids and really got a chance to play with .Net 2.0 in detail. I will be writing about some of the good and frustrating parts of this new release in the weeks to come.

Speaking of which, I am going to try and be a better blogger in 2006. I don't know if anyone else reads this blog, but I find that I enjoy a place that I can put my thoughts down on a regular basis. I just need to be a bit less lazy and take the time to write.

Happy New Year

Christmas 2005

First I know that I really suck as a blogger. Every time I get ready to write something comes up or I fall asleep. It's not that I don't have something to write about, I guess I am going through a lazy period.

Christmas 2005 is winding down here. Everyone here has had a good Christmas; couldn't ask for more. A happy and healthy family is the most important gift.

Where is My Parachute

I really starting to get bored and frustrated with this assignment. I have spend the last week and a half playing scheduling games and not getting any real work done. I know we need to plan but geeze; it's almost impossible to get the various users to agree on anything. Well they all agree that they want everything now. We are trying to set a doable scope for the first release; I know they are not very happy but hey, we don't have much staff to do the work.

I talked to my manager about getting a new assignment when my contract is up and not getting it renewed. He does not seem to think that would be a bad thing; so I am starting to look around and see what's available that I could switch to. I would love to start of the new year with a new assignment; but I am not going to rush and do anything stupid just to get away from this clueless bunch.

I just hope we are finally going to reach some understanding this week so we can start to work on code. Next week is my last before my week + vacation. Nobody better even think about asking me to cancel; that is not going to happen.

I'm Alive

Yes, I am still alive. The week I got back from my trip was crazy. You would not think that we just went live. We spent all week making "must have" changes. Put out the first patch the Friday after go live.

the following week I was on my first week of vacation for the year. I was not in the mood to do much more than relax. I had a really good week away. :

This week marks the start of me being the primary developer. I spent much of the week doing estimates fir all the things the users want to change. Since we went from nine people to three, it should not have come as a surprise that change were going b take longer.

Heading Home

On the last part of my trip home. As I write this, I am at 30 some thousand about an hour and 30 minutes from home. So far it's beautiful weather and a smooth flight.

I didn't get done what I wanted to on this trip but it was good to see everyone and get somethings finished. I will get the rest of the information I need next week.

Wanted to post this last night, but fell asleep.

Last Night Away

Heading home tomorrow afternoon. I sure hope it doesn't take three days like in January. I will be very happy to see my family again. I have not had a good night's sleep all week and it's really starting to wear me down. Tomorrow I will be in my own bed at last.

We will be having the funeral on Monday. That's going to be a long stressful day. I am still sorry that I was not home to give my wife more support. She knows that I would have been home anytime she called. I still wish I could have been home, but this was unexpected. I will give her as much time to relax as possible.

I was good getting to see the rest of the team this week. I wish we could have had more time for me to get up to speed but with the issues we had this week it just didn't happen. Sounds like I'll be flying by the seat of my pants again.

I do hope my next entry is from home.

A Death in the Family

This morning my wife's step mother passed away. Something like that kind of brings everything into perspective. You realize that time is short; spend the time you have with great care. I don't want to regret things not done or said.

I am still away, nothing is going to be settled until Friday at the earliest. I would have been willing to come home but my wife insisted that I stay. I hope she is doing ok. I will keep in close contact.

One More Day of Fun

I finally had the (miss) fortune off meeting some of the users that we have been dealing with. I don't know how the folks that have had to deal with them can stand it. We are still being forced to be so accommodating with changes (we added new fields today!!!), that I think we are putting the entire project at risk. When are the users going to be held accountable.... NEVER.

It sounds like tomorrow is going to be a long one. The only bright side is that tomorrow is the very last day we will be making updates. Though to be honest I'll believe that when I see it. I am enjoying getting together with the rest of the tech team. Being in the same location does help things move quicker.

I will be really glad to get finished and head home on Friday. I miss my family a lot, and I know that they are missing me. Friday is going to be a short day. I do need to make sure that I get the vacation that I have scheduled. Since I have not had any yet this year. I don't want to hear about schedules or staff issues, I need time off. I hope that I don't have any issues at this late date. We will see.

Travel Day One and Two

09.25.2005

I am sitting in the Chicago airport (Gage L1 to be exact) waiting on my connecting flight to Dallas. Once again I am spending most of the week in Dallas. Last time (January) it took me three days to get home, don't think I have to worry about a snow storm this time. The only good part (other than getting to see the rest of the team) is that it is not to be too hard of a week. Wonder what I will be saying on Friday.

Finally got to the hotel with just a little bit of hassle. Got dinner out and watched a bit of TV. I am going to make an early night of it; who knows what tomorrow will bring.


09.26.2005

It's didn't even take to Friday. A few of our more clueless users over reacted and set us into a "fire drill". Some of the others on the team had to spend a huge portion of their day just calming the project leadership down. All because of some non-issues.

In addition it looks like we will be making even more changes as we head toward Mondays production build. These folks just don't have any idea of how a technical project should be run. The rest of this year is going to be such fun. Can't wait to see what happens tomorrow.

Almost Done

the last 24 hours have been quite a Pain in the ass. Yesterday it was decided to once again care into our users a push through some pretty extensive changes. We hid to enter 20 or so input fields on various forms. It was fun to do InfoPath at 1 am.

Finally went to see my doctor. Not exciting but its good to know that I am in good health. Just wish I could loose some pounds.

Lots going on in the evenings this week. Just to make it even more special, I get to leave for a week business trip or Sunday.

Found the link on Dell's site and ordered windows Mobile 5. From everything I have real this is going to be a major improvement to my PDA.

Coming Down to the Wire

I am getting the feeling that my annoyance level is going to peak today. I have been sitting around not doing much for an entire day. Now that Friday is here I bet I am going to be expected so be in late. I try to be flexible but I have a school function this evening that I will not be willing to miss. I really don't want to miss it because somebody else can't plan. Once again, screw the technical team; they don't have lives. I have made more accommodations than most. I am not giving up my life for this project.

I am glad to say things are working out better than expected. For the most part the users are very happy with the application. Most of. The issues they found are minor and can be worked next week.

Never did get this entry posted on Friday (duh). As usual the weekend went fast. So far, I am reviewing the application code for turnover next week. I am also working a few defects. These are in the reporting section and so far I can't see anything wrong. I have a call in to the reporting user. See how that works out.

Will the Fun Ever End?

Well, it's coming to the end of development for this project. we have users in town few days to test. So far, nothing major has been reported. Earlier this week we had some more proof that some of our users are less than stellar. A few were now saying that the enhancements, which they had agreed to hold off on until after release, just had to go in. We did what we could.

I am not looking forward to taking over technical support for this application. We are going from 6 people to 2.

Two for One Posting

Day 1 (08.23.2005)
I had a back to school night last night. It is hard to believe that I am sending my third child to middle school. Time passes so quickly. I am glad I spend as much time as I an with family.

I spent some time on some minor formatting issues. I was hoping by this time these would be all cleaned up. Was going to spent the rest of the day on reporting. But that was interrupted by an issue with the form field sizes. Going to be a pain to fix.

Day 2 (08.24.2005)

Last night I saw on slashdot that Google has there own I’M client now. For fun I downloaded and installed. It's ok, nothing new. My biggest issue with all clients is when are they going to talk to each other?

Monday, Monday

The team members that where on vacation are back and getting up to speed on all the changes from last week. Even though the users are getting rid of one report, all the additions to the other reports and going to take time. I also have some questions about the formulas being provided.

I have a meeting this afternoon to explain why we are using InfoPath and not excel. If nothing else it should provide some amusement.

I also spent time this afternoon documenting just what needs to be installed on a user's workstation. This should put any outstanding questions to rest.

The meeting was a total bust. The person The person who called the meeting did not even show up for it. Guess it wasn't so important after all.

Fun...Fun...

The fun just Keeps on rolling. We an now going to have to make even more changes to the reports. Of course the user don't have the detailed requirements yet. In addition they ''just don't understand" why these changes will take at least a week to do. The new pm is doing the best he can. But I don't think he understands some of the ramifications the changes will cause.

And if that wasn't enough, I am attending a meeting to "explain" why we are using InfoPath and not excel. What is it with these people and excel? So I put together a simple PowerPoint that will put this to rest; I hope!

I am very concerned that these report changes are going to have a major impact on the app. I think we are right on the edge of disaster.

Onward

I am going to try something different. Instead of making or not making a post once per day; I am going to write a bit as things happen. Hopefully I will have more timely an interesting posts. We shall see.

Been doing a variety of things this morning. I was happy to be able to solve a form refresh problem that has been driving me nuts. Turns out that the ampersand in the row label waking on development of some report tables and code. The day has gone along pretty good. I am glad to be doing some csharp coding; I was getting tired of all, that InfoPath development.

Tonight I would like to get my connection issues fixed. Seems like the problem is not with my connection string but will my network connection. I tried to run the mySQL administrator and could not connect. I have run this before with no problems. Guess I will be doing some network repair.

Monday's Almost Here

Weekend was pretty good for me. Brought one of my sons home from camp. He had a good time but it's good to have him home again. I really didn't get much work done over the weekend with everything that went on. I am having problems getting connected to my SQL server from my workstation. Until I can get that resolved I am pretty much stuck.

Project is coming along pretty good. We will release the final section this week if all goes well. Still have a few minor defects to fix. There are about 14 enhancements but they may not go until after the initial release; depends on how much time we have.

Another Day

Mind numbing slogging this morning.
I have been adding validation code to all the rich text boxes on every form (4000). This is going to take me all this week and most of next.

I think that blogging from my pda is going to work pretty nice. I can make notes and upload at the end of the day. Another score for Geekness.

I hope this heat wave ends soon. I am sitting at a scout function and It hot and humid.

Testing My PDA

I finally decided to install and try posting from my PDA. Maybe I will be able to be able to post on a more regular basis.

Defect Fixing

Spent most of the day fixing application defects. Most were not too hard; I did get to do some creative coding to improve the alert box when an InfoPath form is submitted with missing or invalid data. You would think that the red asterisk or dashed lines would be a clue!

Finally worked out the last of the appearance bugs with my personal site. The navigation is sweet. Works just like I want it to. When it gets a bit closer to being ready I will publish a post and ask for comments. I hope I can get the updated site out by the end of summer. It sure feels good to be doing some more complex coding again.

Things are pretty good here. Wife was in bit of a bad mood today; kids were being a bit of a pain. Hope things are better tomorrow. I can't believe that we are heading quickly to the end of July. Summer will be over before I know it. With no vacation any where near that really sucks.

Correcting Defects

Spent most of the day fixing defects in the system. Most were valid and fairly minor. I am sure that once more of the system is ready to test; the defects will start to pile up. Pretty typical for a new system; we are still running less than 1% so the system is pretty clean.

Weekend was pretty good; still didn't get much done on my personal site. I don't know why but lately I am beat by evening. Guess I am just getting old. I would like to get the site finished by the end of summer.

No Title

Well another week starts off. The project manager who was killing us has finally moved off the project. The new one seems better but I guess time will tell. Making good progress overall; hope we get the chance to do it right.

As I said before I am going to try an include some more non-tech information. I don't want anyone to get the idea that the only thing that is important is my work. Family come first with me always. That said, I got my vacation that was schedule for August cancelled last week. Makes me pretty upset; I was going to go to a week of camp with one of my sons. He (my son) is not very happy either. I hope this project is worth it.

I tried out the picture upload for Blogger. This way is pretty slick; much easier than before. I know I will be including more pictures now.

Look Who's Here

Well it's been almost a month since my last post. I didn't know if I should let this blog die or not. It's not like I didn't have stuff to say, but every time I thought about blogging I was either falling asleep or on to something else.

I see that blogger.com has some new tools. I will use the image one the most. I had uploaded some images before using the suggested app but found it to be confusing for me. I have not yet installed an application on my PDA to blog, I might be tempted to use it during lunch.

I am going to try and include more of my personal life as well as my work/technical life. All I talked about was my job and various projects I am working on; I think a little diversity will be good.

That Sinking Feeling...

I have been keeping my head down and getting some significant work done over the last few week. While the project person worked on the schedule the rest of the technical team just worked and got quite a bit done. We still have quite a bit to do but everyone has been making excellent progress. Due to all of this I thought that we were over the worst of the administrative nightmares. Boy, was I wrong. No matter how we work the schedule it works out that we will finish sometime in mid - late October; depends on the user testing. Found out today that it is not acceptable; we need to be completely done by October 1st. In addition the majority of the technical team will be moving on to another project on the same date. All of this puts me in a difficult position; I am going to have to give it some serious thought. I am not sure just what I am going to do in October myself.

Some of the non-technical team has been tasked with doing some help creation for the forms. This involves HTML and XML we is totally foreign to these folks. While I deeply appreciate getting help; I can only image what we are going to get back. Once again we are up against the attitude that everyone is interchangeable regardless of skill set. You would think that we would have learned that lesson before.

So all of this adds up to a project that is heading toward major issues. I know given the proper support we could have built something very useful. I still have hopes that we can produce something that we can be proud of.

That Flushing Sound You Hear...

Well that flushing sound you hear is my project starting to go. We still have a good chance to pull it off but last week the project plan updates did not go over well. Of course this caused some of the project leadership to run around and start to micro-manage the project. The entire project plan is now being "adjusted". But the bottom line is that we are going to have to fit into a schedule that may be unrealistic. I shouldn't be surprised; the project has all the makings of a classic "Why IT Projects Fail" story. The user's couldn't figure out what they wanted for months and months but it's the technical team that's going to have to pay. If they pull my vacation (which was scheduled months ago) I am going to become VERY annoyed. It will not take much; I have been forced due to last minute meetings to miss some family activities in the evening. I do have a life outside of work.

Because of all this I am over a week behind in my studies for MCSD. I need to start doing more in the evenings but so many times by then I am totally beat. I have quite a few things I would like to get done at night but usually all that happens is I fall asleep. It's hell getting old.

Maybe my Head Will Just Explode

This project continues to drive me nuts. We have be working for 2 days on some fairly large tedious InfoPath forms for the one group. Today I got an invite to a review meeting (no problem there) but include was a totally different layout for the form. I just don't understand. Do these people think that they can just go on their merry way making changes and expect us to keep doing rework. Someone need to explain the facts of life to them. If we are expected to ever to produce a workable application, the changes need to stop. This project is starting to exhibit all the classic symptoms of an IT project heading toward failure.

If it does fail, I am sure the finger will point right at the technical team. Never mind that system requirements were 3 months late and kept being changes on a whim. I am sure I will hear that I need to be flexible and adapt to change to satisfy the user. While true to an extent; when does the user take responsibility to provide complete and finalized requirements so we can do our job? I have kept my mouth shut (which is the right thing to do) but I am so frustrated right now I could explode.

I hope things get resolved this week or next so we can put our energies into creating an application that we can be proud of. At this point I have no confidence that we will get the chance to do the job we can. With the changes we had before the inplementation date had been pushed out by months. Can't wait to see how that goes over.

And the Fun Begins

We have spent the last week or so getting the "final" set of requirements for the application. Of course there was lots of change and the need to do things differently. I sometimes wonder if any of these folks ever listened to one another. We then spent quite a bit of time reviewing our schedule and coming up with a time estimate. We will be presenting that estimate to the project's leadership sometime this week. I am willing to bet that there is going to be some real pain over the new schedule.

Along with all of that going on, I have gotten behind in my MCSD studies. I am currently running about 4 days behind. I hope to be able to make up most of that this week, I am going to be away all weekend and will not have the chance then. I know I will be able to get back on track and still finish in November.

I was happy to see that Dell will be supplying the Windows Mobile 2005 updates for my PDA. From what I have read, this is going to be a major improvement in the operating system. Once I get ahead on the project and studies, I am going to give mobile development a try.

Feel the Pain

What a wonderful meeting today. We had the first set of discussions with the last two areas to review their InfoPath forms. It seems they don't like the way the data is related and summarized for all the other areas and decided to do it differently. They are insistent that this is the way they are going to do it. It totally kills they entire structure of the application. We are going to have meetings for the next two days to try and figure out what we are going to do. Just to add to the fun another area is getting all hot to do it the same way. This will add weeks to the development time. I know as developers we need to be flexible (I am sick to death of hearing that!!!) but the line has to be drawn somewhere. None of the other areas are organizing the data this way; I wonder if anyone knew this was going on! The way things are going we are going to waste a huge amount of time.

I just don't know yet how we are going to handle this new data relationship. This kind of thing is one thing I simply hate about my job. Users that just go off on their merry way doing what they want without even talking to anyone about the possible impact they are going to have to the overall project. Of course if we the technical folks push back at all they will complain that we don't understand/support their needs. This is going to be a big pissing match and the tech folks are going to be the losers no matter what happens.

On a happier note, I continue to enjoy my PDA. I had ordered a case for it a month ago but due to a backorder situation I have yet to receive it. I had this brand before (EB Cases) and was very impressed with the quality. My new one is scheduled to be here on Thursday. I have made a few tweaks and modifications to the PDA but I have pretty much what I need installed. Once I get further along with my MCSD and get some free time, I am going to play with development for the mobile device. One of the reasons I picked a Pocket PC over a Palm (which I had before) was the ability for me to build apps with Visual Studio.NET.

Well I am going to do some more MCSD studying before bed.

Frustrations

The one part of my job which can drive me nuts is when you can't seem to get ahead because of all the changes that the users keep pushing. I know it's part of reality that there will be changes and as a developer we have to remain flexible. Sometimes, it seems that no matter what, the project keeps going around and around in circles. We are going to have to review the InfoPath forms again, and it sounds like that all the fields that were removed over the last few months are going to be put back in.

I want to provide an application that meets the needs of the users. So I will make any changes that are needed from my end. However, this is not without a cost. I am going to have to push the complete data out. How far, I will have to wait to see what the changes are. I am just afraid that there is going to be some unhappy people with the new date. In the past the end user wants changes and does not understand (or care) what is involved. I am sure there is going to be complaints about how long the development is taking. I sure hope that we can finally freeze the changes so that the application can get completed.

On a happier note, I got the PDA updated with the new OS/ROM. The update went smooth and everything reinstalled with few problems. I sure hope the case I ordered gets here soon. It was shipped on the 21st and I am hoping that it gets here this week.

I have been studying for the first assessment as I mentioned in a previous post. I was going to take it tonight but the browser kept locking up. I will try and make some time tomorrow to take it once I get some more InfoPath forms finished.

And Now for Something Completely Different...

Well another upgrade to do. This time my X50v has an OS upgrade. I downloaded it today but am going to wait till the weekend to apply it. Seems that I will have to reinstall all my apps after the upgrade. Not that big a deal but I don't want to be messing with it late at night. Since I am going away camping this weekend, I will not do it until Sunday at the earliest.

I am also going to hold off on the firmware upgrade for the router until later. I want to make sure that all the other upgrades (Windows 2003 SP1) are not causing any issues. So far so good but I want to give it another week or so.

Upgrades, Upgrades, Upgrades...

Been busy the last few days getting all my machines up to date. The biggest job was putting SP1 on both my Windows 2003 servers (Web/DataBase server & File/Print server). The web server was not any problem but I had major space problems with the file server. I had been meaning to do some clean up there anyway so everything worked out. So far I have not had any issues related to the install of SP1. I also updated my virus software on all my machines. The next day got a hit on the kids workstation from my real time monitor. Cured virus in the windows/font folder. In all my years with computers this is only the 3rd time I have had a virus. The only upgrade left is to update my router's firmware. I guess I'll take care of that in a few days.

My work toward my MCSD cert is coming along very well. I am currently about 3 days ahead of schedule. Since I have to do most of the training on my own time, I want to keep ahead. If something comes up I will still have a bit of a buffer before I get behind. I am scheduled to do the first assessment early next week; guess we will see how much I have really retained over the last two weeks.

We are really pushing the outer reaches of InfoPath on this project. We had the need to create a very unique functionality on one of the forms. On of the other team members whipped up some very cool XPath code in about 4 days which I implemented on one of our forms today. Works very well.

Well time to get some more coding done before bed.

Going to Sleep

I should be working on MCSD stuff; studying or doing one of the labs but I am dead tired tonight. Work wasn't bad today; in fact I got quite a bit of studying done there. I am hoping that a good night's sleep will perk me up for tomorrow.

Change in User Requirements

Can't say I'm surprised but we learned on Friday that there are going to be some fairly major changes to the application. Different users are in control now and they want to add all the data input fields that were taken out over the last few months put back in. And people are amazed that IT projects fail. Personally I want to give the users what they want. I just wish they could figure that out. Anyway, the go live date will get pushed and I will stay billable for longer. This week we should find out what changes are going to be needed.

I have enjoyed my new PDA. I think that I have everything pretty much the way I want it. I will not load every piece of software that looks interesting. So far I have not run into any major problems. Had a little out of sync condition with Outlook but I got that fixed without too much trouble.

Fun and Games with my PDA

As you can image, I have spent the last few days tweaking and playing with my new toy. I am amazed how much more this one can do than the one I got a few years ago. I am still in the process of seeing how everything works. I have not run into any major issues yet.

On the work project, we continue to meet with the SME's to review the forms and get suggestions for updates. I am glad that we have a formal change control process; we can't do everything the SME's would like and still meet our dates. Once again I am glad that I am on the technical side. Having meetings all day is not the way I want to spend my time.

New PDA has Arrived

I'm pretty happy today. My PDA came this afternoon and is charging right now. The screen protector that I ordered came today also so along with the SD and CF cards I bought today I am just about ready to have some serious play time. It needed to be charged for about 8 hours so I will not get to do anything until tomorrow evening.

The first draft of the InfoPath forms have been completed and our users can now start testing them. I am sure that a few minor bugs will surface but overall everyone from the user side has been very impress and satisfied with what they have seen.

I still have two technical issues with the forms that I need to finish up this week. I am working on improving the functionality of the form online help system. I really like how I have the task pane showing and hiding as needed. I am also working on doing more robust date validation. After posting some questions online, I think that I know how to do it; just need to code.

This week I will be starting on my MCSD education. I will be certified by the end of 2005. I have put this off for long enough, I have no excuse not to do it now. I have heard all the pros and cons about certification; I know it the right thing for me to do now. It will me some long days and nights but it will be worth it in the end.

Once I have had a few days to test out my new toy I will post my first impressions.

New PDA Ordered

Well I did it. I ordered a new PDA less than a minute ago. I ordered the Dell Axim X50v which I have been lusting after for months. Believe it or not, it took me two attempts to do the ordering. The first time I was ready to push the final order button then chickened out. I was (and am) feeling really guilty about spending that much on something for me. I know I will get lots of use out of it but we could use the money for something else more "practical". After I get the thing and have a chance to play with it I am sure I will have lots to say about the darn thing.

I have decided to get my MCSD certification this year. I am finally getting some education assistance from my company and I am sure going to take full advantage of it while I can. I know that I am going to have to do some very serious work and study but it will be worth it. The training resources seem to be pretty good. It will be interesting to see how all of it works out. No matter how things work out with my current company, having a certification can only help me out.

Finishing up the InfoPath forms. We had our first review with the SMEs on a form. For the most part it went very well. The SMEs had never seen the forms before and we were hoping that they would like what they see. They were pleased with the look and feel for the most part. There were a few questions but they were mostly centered around application functionality. So we are still on track with this project. I hope that I can finish up most of the forms that I am responsible for by the end of the week.

Continue On

Well here I am again. I don't know why I can't seem to write more. Maybe it is a case of having nothing to say (in which case writing nothing is a good idea) or just being too lazy to spend a few minutes. I am going to make time to do this. Not because I have to but because I want to.

The project at work is really going well. Most of the InfoPath forms are completed and are in the process of being reviewed by the business side. I am very please how the forms came out; I think that MS has a winner with this product. It certainly a niche product unless they come up with a free viewer that can be used to view and fill out the forms. Otherwise you have to have Office 2003 or InfoPath stand alone installed. Outside of a internal project you can't count on the users having the needed software.

In addition to my work-work, I am in the process of redesigning my server's site. I am redoing all the code in C# to get pretty proficient. That project is going very well, I am pleased that I was able to get C# basics down quickly. Along those lines I have decided that I am going to make the commitment of time and get my MCSD this year. It's something that I have been meaning to do but kept putting off. A few of us from work are going to go for it and study together. I think that will make it easier for all of us.

Finally, I am even more in need of a new PDA. I thought that after all this time I would not still be missing the darn thing. Sure hope that I can get a new one later in the spring.

Where Have I Been

I know... I have not been very faithful writing. It's not like nothing has been going on. It's been the opposite; between work and evening activities with the kids I have been too tired to even do much more than glance over my email.

The project at work is really picking up speed. I am in the middle of form development with InfoPath. For a version 1.0 product it's going very well. I hope to have all the forms that I am responsible for drafted by the end of this week. We still have a way to go with the application as a whole but the team is making good progress. I do worry about saying too much here. More and more is being published about bloggers running into issues with the companies that they work for. I don't feel that I have even come close to crossing the line but I am aware of my responsibilities.

My New Cell

My cell contract was up so I was able to get a good deal on a new handset. I was getting tired of the Nokia brick I was using and decided to get this one. Not as good as a new PDA but at least I am able to satisfy a bit of my lust for technology. I also want to have an excuse to play a bit with uploading pictures to the blog. For me it just doesn't seem to intuitive but at least I got the picture uploaded.

My New Cell

Busy and Sick

Between having something doing almost every night during the last week and coming down with the flu I have not done much more than to clear out the spam from my email. I did find out today that at least one person has read this blog; if you are there "Hi Janyce!".

I am continuing to covert my VB.NET web applications to C#. Other than a few syntax errors and the like I pretty much have a good handle on C#. I think that I used my time wisely during this little lull in my project and picked up C#. I think that my InfoPath project will finally start some progress this week. One can only hope.

CSharpin' It

Note: This message was to have been posted via email yesterday. Don't know why it did not work.

It seems that I never get around to blogging in the evening lately. I was doing some updates to one of the sites that I support and when I got finished, I sure didn't feel like doing any more typing. I have the blog set up to accept and publish email postings so I thought that I can take advantage of it.

The project that I am working on is pretty much at a standstill waiting on requirements. The InfoPath form layouts are almost complete pending user review. I hope we can get that review done sometime next week as I would like to get the layout finalized. I still have a few outstanding issues with the dynamic help that I want to add to the forms. I have some posts out to various InfoPath sites while I do some research on my own. I should have all those loose ends tied up by the end of the week. I really am impressed with the functionality of InfoPath and I hope that MS continues to make improvements. If anyone has URL's for InfoPath related sites, please post a comment or email me.

Over the last few days, I have been really focusing on learning C#. I am pretty accomplished with VB.NET but have been a real newbie with C#. I really feel that I should be able to code in both C# and VB to be really considered a well rounded .NET developer. Also, the project I am working on now is being done in C# and I want to make sure that I am contributing as much as I can to the success of the project. So far I have not found C# to be all that difficult. I mean, programming logic is programming logic. I have had the typical problems of case and including the correct namespaces. I figured the quickest way to learn it was to convert some of my existing VB pages to C#. After a bit of a slow start, things are going quickly. I have decided to convert my personal development site over to C# and increase it's functionality at the same time.

Finally, I am wondering? Is anyone reading this? Does it matter?

Blogging in the News

I have been reading quite a bit about blogging and how it may impact a bloggers employment. I am note really worried at this point. I haven't said where I work or intend to at this point. On the other hand anyone reading this who knows me surely knows my employer. I really intend this blog to be about my personal challenges; both technical and personal. While I do discuss some of the technology I am using I am surely not giving away any great secrets.

Reviewed the InfoPath form design with the rest of the technical team today. I got some good feedback and will be making some changes. I have been doing some testing with using jscript to modify the toolbars displayed. Unfortunately the forms must be fully trusted for that to work. This would require our users to install the forms on their workstations. This is not the direction that we are planning to head. I am still setting up the forms to be in protected mode so many of the toolbar buttons will be "greyed" out. I think it's important to keep the users safe... from themselves. :)

I have been doing some development in C# over the last few days. Up till now most of my .NET development has been in VB.NET. It seems that more and more of the development work is heading over to C#. I don't want to be left out of assignments so I am going to spend some time picking up C#. I have been running into some of the typical newbie errors (case sensitivity, type casting, etc.) but for the most part doing pretty well. It's not like I can used the coding experience that I already have.

I'm Back

It's funny. I don't know if anyone is reading this other than me but I still feel that I should explain my absence. It's been a busy week and I have been totally exhausted by the time evening comes around. Over the weekend I was in bed by 9:30 which is very unusual for me. Guess I needed to catch up on my rest. At least I was smart enough to listen to my body and go to bed.

My project continues to move forward. I am adding and testing additional functionality to the InfoPath forms. I think that we should use some conditional formatting to highlight both required fields and data entry errors. There seem to be some disagreement on the team; but we are still talking it through. I don't want the forms to look like a Xmas tree but they could use a little visual feedback.

I am convinced by now that the InfoPath forms should have all the files extracted from the .xsn files. The form can still be build with the drag and drop GUI interface but you know have access to the raw XML files. Just like web pages knowing the code as well as using a GUI interface will make the end result much better. I am currently working on adapting one of the examples (dynamic help) from www.infopathdev.com. Instead of field level help like in the example, I am going for more of a section level dynamic help. For our application and the number of input fields some of these forms are going to have; field level help would make no sense. Despite a few relatively minor annoyances, InfoPath is working well for this project. If we can solve the offline form issues we are having we should have this part of the project designed. After that as soon as we get specs we can start building the live InfoPath forms.

Diving into InfoPath

Last week was a killer. Lost to do at work after my trip. I took last Monday off, so that helped with keeping the workload high for the rest of the week. Just glad that I am home, don't want to get stuck like that again.

Really getting deep into InfoPath development. A great resource can be found at InfoPathDev . Another good spot is the InfoPath Team Blog. I am pretty pleased with the flexibility of the product seeing how this is the first release. With this project we will be pushing it about as far as it can go. I think we are going to extract all of the files from the .xsn file and edit them separately. This will keep out source control system happy (it really only handles text not binary files like xsn) and enable us to do some of the data population that we will need to do. Our other big issue is security with the forms. As you may know, InfoPath wants to "phone home" to make sure that there are no form updates. We are having some issues with working offline because of that. I think we just need to do more research and testing. If anyone has any suggestions please post a comment or email me. Thanks.

My Trip Ends - Finally

This is one business trip that I will NEVER forget. I finally got home TODAY in the afternoon. I was stuck due to weather another night in Chicago. Of course my luggage didn't make it home with me. But it's been found and was to be delivered tonight. I don't think that's going to happen but I will get it tomorrow. I am so glad to be home; I getting to think I was never going to make it. I will have more to say tomorrow when I am more up to writing.

Can't Get Home

I am stuck and can't get home! I was to fly home tonight but due to the storm hitting the east coast of the US I am stuck. I should be driving home right now; instead I am sitting in another hotel room. I have be rescheduled but who knows if the airports will be open tomorrow. I know that there is nothing to do but I really wanted to see my family after being away. In addition I sure would love to get home before the major storm hits tomorrow in PA. If I get stuck here all weekend I am going to be very very unhappy. I am sure glad that I took Monday off, I am going to need it. I guess I will laugh about this in the future but for now I am not very happy.

I was really looking forward to getting home tonight. To have my plans and maybe the entire weekend screwed up has really depressed me. I want to be with my family and know that everyone is safe. I don't think that I will be getting much sleep tonight; I keep wondering if I am going to get out of here. I checked the airlines web site and as of now (10:15 Central) both of my flights are scheduled.

I hope that my next entry is from home.

Getting Ready for Home

I am happy to say that this trip is coming to an end. I had an extreamly productive week, the company sure got it's money's worth out of all of us this week. I was good to put faces to the folks I have been talking with over the last months. It's been a long week, everyone has been working hard. The other folks who are working on requirements had it even worse I think. They got a lot done but we still don't have the technical requirements that we need to really start extensive coding. I am glad that we are going to be given the time to develop the application that is needed. I am pretty fired up about working on this project; going to be fun and a great learning experience.

I have been keeping in touch with the family throughout the week. Things are going pretty good there but it will be fantastic to get home. I sure am missing my family. I am glad that I don't have to travel very often. I would not be surprised that I will be down here again before this project is over.

I still think that the technology that was picked is correct. I am please to see that as we dive deeper into both InfoPath and SQL Reporting Services, I find more and more capabilites that meet the needs of this project. I think that if we stay flexable this will be a very successful project.

I am going to really relax this weekend. Don't know if I will even turn on a computer.

On the Road

It's now my second night on my business trip. The trip down was interesting, the airline managed to loose my luggage. I was wondering just what I was going to wear today. Fortuneatly, the airline delivered my back about 4:30 this morning. I talked to my family and everything is going ok there. I really miss them, it's worse here in the evening. During the day I have been quite busy like I expected.

I am glad that the hotel has high speed internet access. I need to feed my need to surf (and blog of course!!). I will need to do a bit of work later but I needed some down time after the intense day today. It was good to finally meet the rest of the technical team I am working with on this assignment. We really seem to work well togethger and I think that if we are given the right amount of time we can produce a very good application. It seems that we will have the chance to do it right which really has made me optimistic about the whole thing. We still don't have the final requirements for the input forms or the reporting. However it looks like overall we will be reducing the amount of data collected which is a good thing. The prototype application is coming along nicely and should be ready for Wednesday's demo. I am looking forward to great success on this project.

I am sure that in the future (near) when I read this again it will be from home with my family. It is nice to be able to express my thoughts and feelings of the minute; and can reflect on them later. Maybe no great insights but at least a chance to review my thoughts.

Getting Ready to Go

Well just about time for me to leave on my business trip. I knew that this week would fly by. It always does when a trip is coming up. I know it's only for a week but I HATE being away from family and home. I can't complain; this is the first trip I have had to take in about 2 years.

Finally got a book on InfoPath today. After I have had a chance to read through it and use it next week, I will write a review here. Form development for the assignment is moving forward slowly. I hope that after we get the final requirements next week we can really start to move forward quickly. The InfoPath development I have been doing seems pretty straight forward. A good understanding of XML is a big help though.

I think that we have a pretty good division of the workload for the project. It's nice not having to be a "jack-of-all-trades" for this project. With two new technologies being employed, it will be good not to have to do everything else. We have a full time DBA, a couple doing the web application/service and a few doing the forms. We will all switch back and forth a bit to cover when and were needed. Everyone seems great to work with.

Another Week Begins

I have not blogged for a few days; but I have not felt that I really had anything worth saying. I would rather let a few days go by than post just to fulfill some self imposed need. No journey is a constant state; they all contain stops and restarts. It's not the finish, it's the travel through life.

The pace of the project that I am working on is starting to pick up. We are currently working on a proof of concept application. We will be meeting with the non-technical side of the project team and want to show them the direction we are planning. I will be traveling all next week to my corporate headquarters to meet with the rest of the team. I do not enjoy traveling for work. I am very lucky and don't go very often. That subject deserves a blog of it's own. I am sure it will be front page news here next week. By Wednesday I will be feeling the effects. Maybe blogging will help me deal with it.

I am really enjoying the technical aspects of the project. We decided today that the web application portion of the project will be done in C#. I am not as comfortable with C# as I am with VB.NET but it will give me a great chance to build that skill set. The other two primary technologies that we will be using (InfoPath and SQL Reporting Services) are new so I can be in on the beginning of both. Just where I like to be. I want to stay employed and that will mean that I need to keep learning and expanding my skills.

Finally.... A Post

It's been a few days since I last posted. I have been meaning to but I have been so busy at work by the time evening comes around I am beat and my brain is fried. The project at work is slowly coming together. We have more folks working on it which is a big help. More people, more ideas to make it a success. The biggest downside to the project is the number of meetings. I am spending at least 2-3 hours a day in meetings. I hope that we can soon start to cut that back.

I am really getting the urge to buy myself a new PDA. I know I have talked about this before but I really miss having one; I really had come to rely on it. Oh well, maybe in the spring. I am off to bed now; I hope I will have more to say tomorrow.

The Year Begins

Yea, I know the new year began yesterday. Was pretty busy so I really didn't have time or desire to post. Back to work tomorrow I will miss being home. Did quite a bit of coding today; the new scout site I am working on is looking good.

I was reading MSDN magazine tonight and ran across a suggestion to run Index Server against you source code directories. This will sure make searching for something in the code a lot easier. It's one of those ideas that you say "duh" of course. I don't have the .NET search code working to my total satisfaction but it works pretty good.

Short post tonight; I'll bet I will have a bit to say after work tomorrow.