Did you catch tonight’s episode of The Office? Not the BBC version, but the new NBC version. It’s somewhat late but I swear that Michael Scott (the Regional Manager of Dunder Mifflin Paper Products (and office boss)) just stated that his nationality background is the same exact mixture that I have running through my veins. I had to rewind the Tivo several times to make sure I heard him right.

Why this is so out of the ordinary is that our blood line (Michael’s and mine) is not just English.. or English/Irish…or English/Irish/German…or English/Irish/German/Scottish buta truely full heaping of English/Irish/German/Scottish and Native American. I never realized there was someone else out there with the same mixed bag of nationalities such as my own. (Albeit I’m a real person and Michael Scott is a fictional character on a TV show.) Did one of the writers on the show poke into my family tree and pull out the parts???

And in case you’re wondering, although Michael didn’t divulge his Native American roots my understanding is I’m some parts Chippewa.

Just a weird moment at 1AM in the morning.

I’ve been a long standing evangelist for Microsoft and their development tools and technologies. I’m just not a paid evangelist (ie. MSFT employee)likeJim and Tom and Kirk. I’ve always had this driving desire to want to spread my knowledge and experiences with my fellow developers in the community and in return learn from their experiences as well to help add to my own knowledge base.

I’ve always tried to find ways of how I might interact with the community to share my knowledge. I started off several years ago by speaking at some of our local users groups which I always particularly enjoyed and have done so on countless occasions. I wanted to branch out the speaking thing into something more and that led me to opportunities to speaking at conferences such as VSLive! and Microsoft’s Developer Days and a few launch events. For whatever reason, those invites don’t come as easy as they once did. Maybe it’s more competition or maybe it’s me, I don’t know. I hope it isn’t *me*, but I’m certainly doing everything in my power to make sure it isn’t.

To get in “the game” again, you have to set yourself apart. You have to latch onto a particular topic that someone else hasn’t already conquered. That’s why I was happy when Microsoft announced Team System back at TechEd 2004. Not only is it a new product that no one has “conquered” yet, but it’s a particular product that I have a great interest in. So my goal for 2005 is to help others learn about the in’s-and-out’s of Team System as I come to learn and understand them myself. My particular focus (at this time, anyhow) will be the team development tools (work item tracking, source code management, testing features, process workflow, etc.).

To make this goal come to fruition, I’m trying to network with the folks within the Team System group and outside of Microsoft as well to let them know that I’m here to help. And thanks to this little thing called the “Blogosphere”, I’m happy to say that some things are starting to happen.

As it turns out, I’ve been asked to write a few whitepapers on Team System for MSDN. For me, writing is much more difficult than speaking in front of group of my peers. Quite a few people would disagree with me but that’s what works best for me. Blog writing has certainly helped but I still have quite a bit to learn in the realm of writing an article.

I’ve also been tapped by the folks at Code Magazine to submit some articles on Team System as well. Not to mention that there’s a very, very slim chance that through these efforts I might be able to have someone actually consider my proposals for some TechEd sessions (let’s hope). One of my life goals is to speak at TechEd and/or PDC. I think my options are slightly better (that’s if I have any options) with TechEd. TechEd seems to be more open to outside (of MSFT) speakers than PDC. For me to have a chance to speak at PDC would to become an employee of Microsoft (hint, hint).

The interesting thing is that all of this is happening at the same time, adding on to my already compact schedule. I love it though. This is what I want to do and I’m now getting a chance to do it. So for all of you out there… be careful of what you wish for; you just might get it.

I want to thank Christa and the folks at MSDN as well Rod and the folks at Code Magazine for giving me the opportunity.Hopefully this all leads into more speaking engagements. Because in the end, that’s where I get my kicks – the one-on-one interaction with my peers.

Here’s to a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year for everyone!

Podcast Alleyis featuring an interview with Engadget podcasters Phil Torrone and Lenn Pryor (yes, that Lenn Pryor of Channel9 fame). There’s a video of Phil giving a tour of his (I’m assuming) house and his plethora of geek gadgets. You’ll see things like the “Internet connected coffee maker” and the “iPod Egg chair“. Even his dog who walks around wearing a webcam!

What I want to know is what is his electric bill? How many blown fuses has he had over the years? More importantly, can anyone out in the blogosphere come close to Phil’s set up or better yet, pass him up in “Ultimate Geekdom and toy collection“? If you have something above and beyond what Phil has…let’s see it.

In the off chance that you are in the gift giving mood (or you are a family member wondering what I want this year), you can find my wish list here.

http://gmail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=13273