Seattle.BloggersPub

I’m sitting in the hotel after a great conference. We saw a ton of great announcements for developers, had some great sessions, and I got to meet a lot of people for the first time. Aside from being sick for what was arguably the most fun night of the week, MAX was fantastic. We got […]

I was definitely on to something with Avinoo. First del.icio.us jacked my idea and now, via TechCrunch I see that Facebook is beta testing a similar feature. In fact, Facebook has taken a step in Avinoo’s direction by utilizing knowledge about a user’s online relationships, rather than forcing a user to be proactive about who to send links to, as del.icio.us currently does.

One of the oddball recipes I internalized when living in Germany was the idea of “stuffed bread” filled with mushrooms in a bechamel sauce.

I don’t remember where I first saw it… it may have been in one of the cheap, slim cookbooks I used to see in front of bookstores as a student there, where I would often spend a few minutes doing tachi-yomi (reading while standing, in Japanese) between classes or whatever. I just recall the concept, which usually involved taking a square loaf of unsliced “toast” bread from the bakery, chopping it in half, hollowing out the center, and oven-toasting the bread with a liberal application of butter on the hollowed-out walls, then stuffing it with a savory filling.

Unsliced breads in the US don’t usually stand up on end, as the good quality bread in the US is almost always hyper-rustic. So on the rare occasions when I feel like making such things, I choose something like this medium-sized dinner roll.

As in the recipe I stole the concept from, I hollow out the roll, but I use a less extravagant application of butter around the inside.

I sauteed the mushrooms a bit with some onions or shallots, added some garlic and maybe some fresh dill. I made a bechamel sauce… actually a browned butter sauce, not a true bechamel, to add a bit more of a hazelnut color than the mushrooms alone would provide… I combined the sauce and mushrooms, and filled the bread again, warming for just a few minutes in the oven while I prepared some quickly cooked brussels sprouts.

This was one of the last dinners at home when Hiromi was still here…

I first heard We Are Scientists a few weeks back. I saw them open for Art Brut (who, in case you didn’t know, are top of the pops!) and was instantly hooked. They’ll draw alot of comparison to bands like Franz Ferdinand and The Killers, but they’re not really all that similar. I do think you’d like We Are Scientists if you like that genre, but these guys have a bit of a different feel. Live they brought an almost At The Drive In type epic energy sound and while that doesn’t translate well to the album, there is a bit of that in all their music. Either way, they’re a great band.

The booth is in the car, the staff is back at work, the show is over. It went better than I expected. We’ve been at the last three PMI Global Congress shows (Baltimore, Anaheim and Seattle) and this was definitely our best. Probably because now we have our best product. Just about every demo I gave went really well. However, I did notice three things:

1) People who see or read about TeamDirection Project see our integration with SharePoint, but make the assumption that we only store project files on the SharePoint server and share those. While we do store a project file on the SharePoint site, we also synchronize information with the standard SharePoint Task List that team members can update with their browsers– including Safari for Mac users.

Invariably, once I show this feature people’s eyes light up and they respond ’so you’re just like Project Server!’ As far as interacting with SharePoint task lists, yes. But to compare TeamDirection Project to Project Server is like comparing a hybrid car to an 18 wheeler. Yes they both have wheels, but we focus more on executing the tasks at hand whereas Project Server is the entire enterprise solution.

Still, the basics are the same: distributing and updating tasks with a web browser.

2) We think one of our coolest features is the integrated Instant Messaging window showing each team members presence. This lets you instant message a team member whose task might have fallen behind and ask what’s going on. Or its a good way to notify your team of any changes to the plan. When I point this out, people agree its very useful. But I think we might be able to do more to show how the instant member list can be the same as your team member list. Maybe a presence ball right next to the assignment info? It’s definitely a valuable feature to help project managers stay in touch with their team.

I think a couple of simple flash demos on our site will help convey these features. Time to put the director hat back on for a bit.

3) What is up with Microsoft and Groove? I was very surprised at how few people knew about Groove. Microsoft bought Groove back in March 2005. It’s rolling Groove into the next version of Office. Ray Ozzie is now the Chief Architect at Microsoft. I thought Groove awareness would have doubled or tripled by now. It’s a very powerful solution and, surprising as it may sound, Microsoft seems to be underselling it right now. Perhaps things will change once Office 2007 ships.

Thanks to everyone who visited our booth and made the show such a success for us. A special thanks to everyone who told their friends and colleagues we deserve a visit. The last day of the show was actually our busiest, which I chalk up to the word getting around.

See you at the next show!

The booth is in the car, the staff is back at work, the show is over. It went better than I expected. We’ve been at the last three PMI Global Congress shows (Baltimore, Anaheim and Seattle) and this was definitely our best. Probably because now we have our best product. Just about every demo I gave went really well. However, I did notice three things:

1) People who see or read about TeamDirection Project see our integration with SharePoint, but make the assumption that we only store project files on the SharePoint server and share those. While we do store a project file on the SharePoint site, we also synchronize information with the standard SharePoint Task List that team members can update with their browsers– including Safari for Mac users.

Invariably, once I show this feature people’s eyes light up and they respond ’so you’re just like Project Server!’ As far as interacting with SharePoint task lists, yes. But to compare TeamDirection Project to Project Server is like comparing a hybrid car to an 18 wheeler. Yes they both have wheels, but we focus more on executing the tasks at hand whereas Project Server is the entire enterprise solution.

Still, the basics are the same: distributing and updating tasks with a web browser.

2) We think one of our coolest features is the integrated Instant Messaging window showing each team members presence. This lets you instant message a team member whose task might have fallen behind and ask what’s going on. Or its a good way to notify your team of any changes to the plan. When I point this out, people agree its very useful. But I think we might be able to do more to show how the instant member list can be the same as your team member list. Maybe a presence ball right next to the assignment info? It’s definitely a valuable feature to help project managers stay in touch with their team.

I think a couple of simple flash demos on our site will help convey these features. Time to put the director hat back on for a bit.

3) What is up with Microsoft and Groove? I was very surprised at how few people knew about Groove. Microsoft bought Groove back in March 2005. It’s rolling Groove into the next version of Office. Ray Ozzie is now the Chief Architect at Microsoft. I thought Groove awareness would have doubled or tripled by now. It’s a very powerful solution and, surprising as it may sound, Microsoft seems to be underselling it right now. Perhaps things will change once Office 2007 ships.

Thanks to everyone who visited our booth and made the show such a success for us. A special thanks to everyone who told their friends and colleagues we deserve a visit. The last day of the show was actually our busiest, which I chalk up to the word getting around.

See you at the next show!

The booth is in the car, the staff is back at work, the show is over. It went better than I expected. We’ve been at the last three PMI Global Congress shows (Baltimore, Anaheim and Seattle) and this was definitely our best. Probably because now we have our best product. Just about every demo I gave went really well. However, I did notice three things:

1) People who see or read about TeamDirection Project see our integration with SharePoint, but make the assumption that we only store project files on the SharePoint server and share those. While we do store a project file on the SharePoint site, we also synchronize information with the standard SharePoint Task List that team members can update with their browsers– including Safari for Mac users.

Invariably, once I show this feature people’s eyes light up and they respond ’so you’re just like Project Server!’ As far as interacting with SharePoint task lists, yes. But to compare TeamDirection Project to Project Server is like comparing a hybrid car to an 18 wheeler. Yes they both have wheels, but we focus more on executing the tasks at hand whereas Project Server is the entire enterprise solution.

Still, the basics are the same: distributing and updating tasks with a web browser.

2) We think one of our coolest features is the integrated Instant Messaging window showing each team members presence. This lets you instant message a team member whose task might have fallen behind and ask what’s going on. Or its a good way to notify your team of any changes to the plan. When I point this out, people agree its very useful. But I think we might be able to do more to show how the instant member list can be the same as your team member list. Maybe a presence ball right next to the assignment info? It’s definitely a valuable feature to help project managers stay in touch with their team.

I think a couple of simple flash demos on our site will help convey these features. Time to put the director hat back on for a bit.

3) What is up with Microsoft and Groove? I was very surprised at how few people knew about Groove. Microsoft bought Groove back in March 2005. It’s rolling Groove into the next version of Office. Ray Ozzie is now the Chief Architect at Microsoft. I thought Groove awareness would have doubled or tripled by now. It’s a very powerful solution and, surprising as it may sound, Microsoft seems to be underselling it right now. Perhaps things will change once Office 2007 ships.

Thanks to everyone who visited our booth and made the show such a success for us. A special thanks to everyone who told their friends and colleagues we deserve a visit. The last day of the show was actually our busiest, which I chalk up to the word getting around.

See you at the next show!

On Tuesday the kitchenette in my building where I do my little survival gig was taped off like a crime scene or city excavation project, marked with the word “Danger”. I’m not sure what was dangerous, but perhaps the “Farmer Bros.” branded coffee equipment being removed, which I lived in fear of during my 7 year tenure as a full-time employee of this company, contained toxic waste.

Walking down the halls was strangely quiet yesterday. I doubt there was any correlation between the the lack of coffee and the unusually languid vibe , but when I arrived this morning I noticed a substantially greater amount of noise, including more animated office conversations.

This new energy may have been directly traceable to particularly high doses of caffeine caused by people trying out the new Starbucks equipment.

Though the coffee itself is still mediocre, the ground-to-order brew is vastly superior to what it replaced, and the excessively roasted brew can be muted with a splash of milk. There was no hiding the stale flavor and hostile acidity of the predecessor.

Until everyone gets caffeine overload, I suspect the atmosphere at work will be unusually frenetic…

In the past I’ve found Ryan’s election summaries and voting recommendations informative and intriguing, so I thought this year I’d summarize my votes.

Initiative Measure No. 920
“The state estate tax is dedicated to funding public schools (kindergarten through 12th grade) and higher education.” Coming from a long line of teachers, I voted against repealing the estate tax.

Initiative Measure No. 933
Generally speaking, I agree that private property owners should be compensated if the government damages their property. The arguments against the measure don’t hold a lot of water as far as I can tell, other than using “loophole” liberally throughout. I voted for the measure.

Initiative Measure No. 937
This one’s pretty easy. “Require certain electric utilities with 25,000 or more customers to meet certain targets for energy conservation and use of renewable energy resources…or pay penalties.” If you take a look at the people arguing against the measure, you see titles containing things like “Association of Washington Business,” “Power and Light Company” and “Aerospace Futures Alliance of Washington.” If you look on the other side, you see “American Lung Association,” “League of Women Voters,” “American Cancer Society,” etc.

House Joint Resolution 4223
Another no-brainer. This one aids small businesses at tax time, and as a co-founder of a small business and an occasional contract worker, I’m all for it.

United States Senator
While I liked some of the things I read from Bruce Guthrie (Libertarian), Robin Adair (Independent) and Aaron Dixon (Green), they seemed a little too predictable. Unfortunately for Mike McGavick I’m not frightened enough by terrorists and leaky borders to give him my vote. I like the things Maria Cantwell stands for (or claims to), so she got my vote.

United States Representative
More on terror and border leakiness from the Republican in this one. So we’ll skip him. Jim McDermott seems reasonable, but he also seems old. He seems to stand for a lot of things that haven’t seen a lot of progress in my opinion…so maybe he isn’t quite doing the job. Linnea S. Noreen (Independent) gives a good argument against the incumbent and focused on education in her “plea.” My vote went to her.