Windows

My friend Lavinia returned to the world of blogging. She was out looking for windows and that reminded me to add it to the list of home projects that Jen and I created yesterday.

There seems to be an infinite number of things to do in a house, and once done I feel the need to start all over again. Lavinia is building a house, which is a multi-year project. Yesterday as Jen and I were driving up to Snohomish to have a nice morning wandering the antique stores (and going exporing with the little one) I suggested that we buy a piece of land somewhere up north and build a house on it. A project that we could take years doing.

Jen’s response was less than enthusiastic.

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Out of the closet

My wife, Jen, is no longer an anonymous blogger. She has revealed herself.

Pursue art on a larger scale

For those people that have visited my home (yeah, I realize no one visits my home) you know I like my art big. I like it small also, but there is something about large scale art that really excites me.

To that end, I highly endorse this site, BetterWall. Beauty and being a good citizen.

Now, if I could only convince my wife to let me buy something.

Seemingly random, yet all connected

For those of you who remember the 70s and 80s because you were there (and taking karate class), I point you to the latest craze, Chuck Norris.

This might be cruel, but it is not insane.

Cool technology

Check out Zillow. One of those composite applications that will redefine an industry segment (real estate).

Gloat over the value of your home or cry over the value of your neighbor’s home.

SPARK

Buzz is starting to build over SPARK. Microsoft has put together a strategic workshop that brings together very senior architects and thinkers to discuss the things that matter most as the worlds of SOA and Web 2.0 and SaaS all start to collide. It is invite only, so don’t start looking for a place to sign-up. But, the output of SPARK will be presented at a MIX session the next day.

The team at Microsoft is calling this the EDGE. Interesting things are going on around the EDGE (and Microsoft).

FYI — I am the business owner of SPARK, so naturally biased.

I hear that a SPARK blog is coming up real soon.

Go have that Whopper

Low fat diet does not cut health risks.

Of course, watching calories is always a good thing. Skip the chicken strips as an appetizer (or “appeteaser” as crappy chain restaurants sometimes call them).

New job

A brief nod to the wife. She starts her new job at Microsoft in a couple of weeks. We will be a two Microsoft family. I think our cat has also applied for a position as a tester in XBOX. He has very fast reflexes.

SOA, Web 2.0, & the EDGE

John deVadoss of the Microsoft Architecture Strategy Team gave an awesome presentation at VSLive last week. He really hit home the need for some bridge between the old and the new.

Yes, I work with John. Darryl Taft of eWeek thought it was pretty hot also. Guess there is some consensus around the need for a broader perspective.

Part of the need for that broader perspective is driven by the reality of Web 2.0 and associated ideas moving into the enteprise space. Enterprise architects learned in the first Internet wave not to trust every start-up with a cool name when it came to running their business. Larry Ellison once said of companies from Web 1.0 that they were a feature, not a company. The enterprise needs to turn to companies that understand how to run their business — Microsoft, IBM, SAP, Oracle — as the broader context in which they try new technologies. That is the reality of the EDGE.

MIX06

I am not shilling here — MIX is really going to be a hot event. The pervasive nature of the Microsoft platform and tools cannot be easily overlooked when thinking about developing for the web.

It is not about Web 2.0, but subsumes the entire set of technologies and social phenomenon that make Web 2.0 real and valuable.

I will be there because I want to meet the people that see the value in the full range of proven technology. It is not all about the latest thing, it is about the things that might keep you employed.

Plus, I love Las Vegas!