The agenda is not finalized yet, but I am sure Community days 2008 will be as interesting as the past events. I doubt I will attend the free event this year as I do not program in .NET at work. I still do some coding for fun but it is hard to justify two days away from work just for fun :-) I will try to attend some Microsoft events to stay in touch with friends but you are more likely to see me at Python conferences in the future...

I have had a countdown status message in my office mail this week: A female colleague a few thousand km away noticed and could not resist (keep in mind that I have never met her): ... SuperWoman: BTW, what are you celebrating in 2 days ;)if i may ask me: Guess SuperWoman: wedding aniversary me: correct !!!! SuperWoman: congratulations ;) me: The 10 years have gone very fast. Time flies when you have kids... SuperWoman: next question... how many ;) sorry, I'm curious! me: Since you are so incredibly good at guessing; lets see if you can guess the number of kids and age SuperWoman: I'd say 2 kids, aged between 9 and 6?? me: I do NOT believe it.My oldest daughter ...

I have played around with GTD for several years. It has worked reasonably well but I recently learned that I have done one thing wrong: I used categories instead of contexts. They sound like the same thing but using context has made a big difference. In the past I used categories like: "personal" and "work". It works for grouping tasks together but it is a bad idea when you have to choose the next thing to work on as it says nothing about the "context" you require to do them. I could have a personal task like "scan letter" that I actually have to do in the office where I have access to a scanner. Defining real context makes it very clear what you should work on at ...

SQL Server Magazine has a set of free essential guides regarding many SQL Server tasks. They are targeted at people that are new to the topic and they are short and to the point: The Essential Guide to Business Intelligence Reporting: Choosing the Right Tool for the Right Job Virtualization of SQL Server 2008 The Essential Guide to Reporting Services Tips & Tricks The Essential Guide to Disaster Recovery and Virtualization The Essential Guide to SQL Server Backup and Recovery The Essential Guide to Jump Starting Your SQL Server Skills The Essential Guide to User Continuity Special Report: Perspectives on SQL Server Sprawl The Essential Guide to ...