I attended the CINNUG meeting on May 20, 2008 and it was a open panel discussion on Software Development as A Career. There were a many people at the meeting and it was a great discussion. The guest speakers were Jim Holmes, Tim Apke, and Ed Summerfield. I finally got a chance to introduce myself to Jim. I've heard good things about him and Dayton .Net Developers Group is so close. I saw him at CODODN but I was too shy to introduce myself with it being my first event.

It's difficult to really cover this one because there were so many things being discussed but I got so much out of it and it was very inspiring. Some of the things that really stood out, they discussed the difference between working for a small company and working for a large company. They discussed certifications and gave their honest opinions and experience from the field. They answered many of the questions I had. They also talked about consulting. Another topic I was interested in and I was able to get a better understanding of the consulting world. I was able to talk to some my tweeps during the break.

After the break Mike Levy gave a quick presentation on Pattern Grok. This is something new the .NET Group is trying. There will be short sessions at the end of the meeting to allow people to get a chance to present a topic their interested in to the group. The discussion was on pipes and filters and was interesting as well as funny. I think the short sessions are a great idea. It gives people an opportunity to speak to a group of people. This may allow them to be comfortable enough to become a speaker or give a presentation in the future.

I attended my first Cincinnati Programmers Guild (CincyPG) meeting on May 21, 2008. Joe Wirtley was speaking. I really enjoyed this group. It's a smaller group which gave me a chance to relax a bit and actually talk to people. Before the meeting started I got a chance to speak to Leon Gersing, Matt Brewer, and Joe Wirtely (tweeps). I feel like I'm getting to know people a bit so now I not as stressed. A step forward in my journey.

The topic was Pragmatic Architechture and the Role of the Architect. Joe did a great job defining an architect as well as discussing the role(s), responsibilities, and some overall challenges. There were many good discussions that went along with some of the topics. This meeting had a more open format than some of the other I've attended. I really enjoy both. It does depends on the size of the group. For this group, it worked. I didn't jump into the discussion. I know I was welcome to but I'm not quite ready for the spotlight. :)

I hope to attend more CincyPG meetings. I was able to get a better understanding of what software architech's role is and some of the expectations. This related to the CinArc meeting I attended recently perfectly.

I attended the first annual Cleveland Day of .NET on May 17, 2008. I arrived in Cleveland around 10:00 P.M. and went to the room to meet my roommate (and a tweep), Maggie Longshore. Very nice lady with some great experience. So cool to finally meet another female programmer.

I was anxious to meet some of the tweeps that were in town. One problem. Some tweeps were at a karaoke bar and some tweeps were at the hotel. Decisions, decisions. I should have taken the entire day off to be better prepared, life lesson #1.

I ended up hanging out at the hotel bar with Maggie, Dan Hounshell, and Mike Eaton. Overall, I had a good time. It was difficult to hear them because the bar was JUMPIN'. I have never seen a hotel bar that lively. Cleveland, you really do rock!

I caught up with the second set of tweeps later, for a bit, and it was really great to see everyone. I was able to reunite with and/or meet Joe O'Brien, Amanda Laucher, Jeff McWherter, Alan Stevens, Dave Redding, Eric (sorry I cannot remember your last name), Justin Kohnen, and Leon Gersing. I wish I would have had more time to hang with everyone but it was still a great experience!

Let me just say this before I start my recap. Twitter is awesome and it was great to see all the twitter names on the badges at the event. Great idea! I met so many people that I didn't get a chance to hang out with. Too many to name. Perhaps another event.

The Event:

WCF Security by Richard Broida. I'm not real familiar with WCF (Windows Communication Foundation) yet but I'm interested in it and in security so I wanted to attend this session.  When I think security I think SSL (Secure Sockets Layer), transport level protection, so it was good to hear the details of message level protection. Richard had some good demos and advice. There's a lot to learn about this topic. As a matter of fact, there was so much to cover I believe we only got through the first of four demos. I wish this would have been a two part session. I was really interested in seeing the other demos. Maybe next year. :)

LINQ to SQL by Joshua Clark. Joshua gave an overview of LINQ (Language Integrated Query) and went over the different ways you can use LINQ. He covered LINQ to Objects, LINQ to DataSets, LINQ to SQL, LINQ to Entities, and LINQ to XML. I still haven't found the right tutorial to really get my fire burning for LINQ but Joshua also suggested a couple of good blogs that may do the trick. I think the problem is I'm a SQL chick so I just don't see it yet.

Sofware Ninjitsu: Designing for Change by Nate Kohari. I'm interested in design and know the importance as efficient code so I decided to attend this presentation. I didn't know what to expect but I'm really glad I did attend this one. It got me thinking about making each program as flexible as possible. Getting the most out of each line, thinking of it as a piece of the jigsaw. I learned so much from the session. I need to review the material again before I'll be able to get a good grasp of everything. It was just packed full of good information. 

A Look at F# by Amanda Laucher. This was a must attend. I've heard so much about Amanda, F#, and this presentation. She lived up to my expectations by far. Amanda did a great job of explaining what F# is and how to use it. She also showed some great examples that I will try soon. It seems pretty structured and I do like that. I'm really inspired to learn some F#. I enjoy command line programming. It reminds me of my roots. After attending this presentation I see why Amanda toots F#'s horn, because it's worthy. ;)

Understanding HttpHandlers and HttpModules by Joe Brinkman. This was a great presentation. Joe had some great graphics that broke down the "when, why, and how" of controlling each. He also gave some great demonstrations that dealt with Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0 and IIS7. I enjoyed seeing the difference between the two and how it interacts with ASP.NET. There was even a moment in the presentation when things didn't go so smoothly and Joe stopped and debugged on the spot like a true pro. I was really impressed. I also plan on launching a site using DotNetNuke soon so seeing Joe in person was exciting.

WPF for Developers by Joe Wirtley. I finally got a chance to see Joe's presentation of WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation). I missed him in Central Ohio and Indy. I had to catch him in Cleveland. On top of that the topic was exactly what I had on my mind. I've heard about this for so long but still couldn't help to think of this as more of a tool for graphic designers. I now realize there is a benefit for developers to learn some WPF. Joe covered a lot of ground in a short time and I was able to learn enough to feel comfortable trying a WPF project now. 

When the event was over I wanted to go to dinner but couldn't do PF Chang's. I have food allergies. I wanted to go somewhere else and meet the crew after dinner but knew it would be getting late soon. I had a long drive back to Cincinnati so I figured it was best I get started. Life lesson #2, when going to an out of town be prepared to stay the night of the event. It was my first time in Cleveland but next year I'll be better prepared.

I attended the Cincinnati Business Intelligence (CincyBI) meeting on May 13, 2008. The topic was Advanced Data Modeling: Simultaneous Type 1 - Type 2 Slowly Changing Dimensions and the guest speaker was Tommy Adams. Tommy went over Type 1, Type 2, and Type 3 SCD's and gave a good explaination of when to use each. He then went gave an introduction to Hybrid Type 2 / Type 3. This was a short presentation but I was still able to get a good understanding of when you would use these differnent types of SCD's. The demo was in Microsoft Access to simplify the demo but I would have enjoyed seeing this applied on a larger scale.

When the meeting was over it was still early but I still planned to go home. The first Cincinnati Software Architecture (CinArc) meeting was in the next room and they were having a panel discussion with Joe Wirtley, Leon Gersing, and Mike Levy. I really wanted to attend that meeting too but since I had to make a choice I went with Business Intelligence. I saw Mike Wood, the director of CINNUG, in the lobby because CinArc was on break too. Mike was nice enough to allow me to attend the second half of the CinArc meeting. 

During the break I was able to chat with Andy Erickson. I was able to stand there and have a really nice talk. Enjoyable versus feeling so stressed out. This is one of the reasons I'm really trying to attend as many meetings possible. The more I come around the more comfortable I feel talking to people. Right before the second half started I was able to meet one of the tweeps, Matt Brewer, face to face.

The second half of the meeting was a FishBowl. Very interesting. There were four chairs and three people in the middle of the room and the rest of us sat around the outside in a circle. The group was defining "What Is An Architect?". If you wanted speak about the topic you had to go sit in the empty chair, the catch, someone had to get up. There always had to be an empty chair. 

I really enjoyed this meeting. This looks like an exciting and passionate group. I am not an architect and don't see myself in that role in the near future but perhaps one day. In the meantime, I do want to know how they think, what they do, and how it relates to someone like me. I will attend these meeting in the future on a regular basis.

CincyBI meets every two months but they will not meet again until September, 2008. You can find more information about CincyBI at http://cincysql.org. CinArc meets every two months and the next meeting is in July, 2008. For more information on CinAr please visit http://cinnug.org. 

Today I attended my first New Media Cincinnati meetup at Panera Bread. The topic for the meetup was Virtual Teams and Kristen Beireis was the guest speaker. I really don't know much about this topic and was able to learn many things are got some good tips in a short amount of time. Kristen did a great job explaining how to use virtual teams and the fact that you need to know what you want.

I remember the founder Daniel Johnson Jr. from junior high / high school days through a mutual family we grew up with. I wanted to connect with him because it's been many, many years and I also knew he was a SQL Server Developer. Daniel and I had some "geek talk" to break the ice and he introduced me to some of the members of the group. I ended up staying and chatting with a few members for a while.

I met a few people around me but things happened pretty quickly. I was really impressed and a bit freaked out. I know I'm a shy person until I get to know people better and this was a bit more difficult that I expected. Still a great experience and good preparation for PodCamp Ohio.  Reconnecting with Daniel has given my hope that shy people can come out of there shell. I remember day as he was and was pleasantly suprised to find out who he is.

If you're interested in blogging, podcasting, and/or social networking this is a great group of people to connect with.