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Just clicked on the SkyDrive tab on the top of my blog ...I decided to test this file sharing service by posting a picture that Kevin Moore made a few months ago of me with an online tool to draw somebody as a Simpsons character: Skydrive is likely easier for me to share files that others can find than having to mess with RobRelyea.com... Read More...
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Just saw that Laurent Bugnion is about to go on ski holiday ...me too. Love the picture! TechReady (internal MS conference), ski @ whistler, Mix with lots of coding/work in between. Should be a fun/crazy next 30 days! Looking forward to sharing some of the things we're doing on the WPF team @ Mix... My weekly skiing at the local mountain (Snoqualmie pass) has been interrupted the last few weekends due to heavy snow, closed highways (I-90) through the mountain passes, etc... Hope I can ski this Saturday. Read More...
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Just made my first direct donation to a presidential candidate during primary season with a credit card donation on their site...should be an interesting day on Tuesday. We don't vote in Washington yet, but with my donation hopefully I'll help pull things to the candidate I favor. Read More...
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Work has been very quiet this week...most Microsoft employees are in danger of losing their vacation time if they don't take it before the end of the year, since they may not have taken enough during the year...so they are taking the time now. I have plenty of vacation, but too much work to do to take many days off right now. I'm about to leave work early today (Friday afternoon) - going to go have fun in downtown Seatlle. I'll likely work only a tiny bit next week, but I'll be back after New Years working very hard. Hope to resume more active blogging in a 2-3 months... Hope you all have great holidays and a happy new year! Read More...
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I'm taking tomorrow off. I plan to take a day a month off regularly...2nd Friday of each month...12 days a year for me. I need the time to focus on me, since I work too much, and have many family obligations in the evenings and weekends. I'm looking forward to it. Read More...
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I've mentioned recently that I'm jealous of my wife's new car electronics - bluetooth phone, mp3 input, and Nav are the big 3. So I'm thinking of buying something for my car that I plan on keeping for a while. Somebody recommended I should check out a few Pioneer models. (haven't done that yet) This morning, I found a writeup on zune-online.com about Ford Sync & a few videos about Ford Sync (which Ford and Microsoft partnered with.) Looks very cool. So now I need to ask Ford if I can upgrade my 2002 Ford Explorer's radio to this new thing. My guess is that the answer is no. I hope they'll see value in providing value to their existing customers as well... Read More...
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I'm interested in lessening my impact on the health of the planet. One of the ways I'm doing that is I'm tracking how many gallons of gas my wife and I use each day. The major variables are how much we drive, how we drive, and what we drive. How much we drive I'm being pretty good about taking a bus to work 3-5 days a week. When the bus isn't late (15 minutes late yesterday during the heavy downpour in the afternoon), I find it is a good use of time as well, as I'm usually working on my tablet. How we drive My wife's new hybrid has indicators to show what the current gas mileage you are getting is and also a historical view over time (per minute) as well as an average mileage. With the right information, I can balance how fast I need to accelerate with how it is affecting my mileage. What we drive 1 Hybrid, 1 SUV Gallons/Day Last tank, my car did: 219.4 Miles 15.908 Gallons 13.8 MPG 13 Days 1.22 Gallons/Day 16.87 Miles/Day $3.94/Day Last tank, my wife's hybrid did: 389.2 Miles 13.625 Gallons Read More...
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of my wife's new car. She got a hybrid - it gets twice the mileage of her old car. My favorite thing about it is the electronics that her car now has (and my car lacks): Bluetooth connection to cellphone, Navigation system, and Zune input (no control though). I'm not planning on replacing my Ford Explorer until several years from now. We like having a car that can carry a bunch of people (it carries up to 7) or things when needed...and I avoid driving it much by taking the bus. Until then, I'm thinking of upgrading the radio in the car to give me some of the modern touches... Read More...
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Next WPF release...Catching up on blogs So today, I wake up early on Saturday morning...(yes, I do wake up early , even sometimes on the weekend)...and I go into my home office and start catching up on blogs. I miss what is happening in the world... My blog reading and writing has slowed down of late. Just part of the normal ebb and flow. That and I've been very busy working on our next release after 3.5...rolling my sleeves up and diving in. Lots of exciting things coming. So many great things to choose from...so fun to make progress. I love this job. ( Come join us .) Architect role I recently got a title change to Software Architect. I've always been a Program Manager...now you can think of me as a PM Architect. Great to have the recognition. My primary focus remains WPF/Xaml. I spend most of my time on the Xaml Language... Funny thing is now that I'm an architect, I get the first direct report I've had in at least 6 years. I've taken the individual contributor route in MS, growing my Read More...
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Last night, for the 2nd straight year, I spent an evening calling other parents at my son's school trying to get pledges for the Bellevue School Foundation . One of the nice things they do is curriculum enhancement grants ( Fall 2006 grants , Winter 2007 grants ). The Pitch My son, finding out what I had planned for the night, was suggesting what I could say, so I had him type up his script for me: greetings . would you like to donate money to the Bellvue school district? If you do it they might help you when you get old. Clearly, I should have led with...listen to my son's pitch...the schools need help, don't you see. :-) My Results Anyway, I got commitment for about $1,275 in pledges (before matching funds) after calling about 5 sheets worth of parents. Left a bunch of messages on answering machines as well... Microsoft Donations Microsoft is supposed to pay charities when I volunteer my time ($17/hour, if I recall)...I need to go figure out how that works, I haven't tried to get that Read More...
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Spent a little over a week in Maine on Frye Island. Did no work. Played on the beach with the kids. Kids loved trying to catch frogs on the golf course. Did a bunch of swimming most mornings in Sebago Lake. Met my wife's cousin's 7 month old baby boy for the first time! My father-in-law spends 6 months each year on the Island... Red Sox played the Mariners in Seattle...I had forgotten what it is like to live in the Eastern time zone and try to stay awake for a baseball game in the Pacific time zone. I had to give away some tickets that I had to the Sunday game. Good rest and relaxation. Next time we're out east, we'll explore the coast of Maine a bit more... I love Maine, but if I hate to leave Seattle at all in the summertime. It pains me! Read More...
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I grew up from age 2-18 in Southfield Michigan, a suburb just to the North of Detroit. When people ask where I come from, I usually say Michigan - which is strange...most people that grew up right outside a large city, like Chicago, New York, etc..., don't usually say they came from Illinois or New York State. Detroit has been through a lot in the last 100 years. My father was born there in `36. My grandfather migrated there from Canada to work in the Auto industry as an engineer. I'm writing these short thoughts down because I just read a very interesting article: Detroit arcadia: Exploring the post-American landscape from the July 2007 Harper's Magazine, by Rebecca Strait. My friend recently sent me a PDF version of it -- you can't read it online, unless you subscribe to Harper's. The article discusses the surge of activity that grew the city to 2 million people ~1950, the decentralization of the auto industry, white flight from the city, etc... I'll write more about this topic sometime Read More...
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Had a great week off spending time on the beach...reading, crabbing, fishing, spending time with friends/family... For the first time in a while, I barely touched my computer all week. Read More...
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My wife just showed me something funny that my older son (1st grade) brought home from school. He wrote a story called "Mike plazza [Piazza] have some pizza". The line under the title was "from the author of ted wiliams out of here" (a story he wrote a few weeks ago). Impressive, he already uses "from the author of"! He is funny... Read More...
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I don't take many of these unless I have a trip planned. My wife is out of town for the weekend. Kids and I are going to take a day off and have some fun @ Whidbey Island . Read More...
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