by Joey deVilla on October 22, 2009
by Joey deVilla on October 22, 2009
I bought a fuzzy “Cat in the Hat”-style raver hat with a Canadian flag pattern on a whim earlier this year, thinking that I’d probably find a pretty good use for it some day. That day, it turns out, was yesterday, where I turned it into what I believe was yesterday’s only Steve Ballmer photo-op with a non-management Microsoft Canada employee:
Photo by Barnaby Jeans.
Yesterday was a busy day at the Harbour Castle Convention Centre, where we had an all-day Steve Ballmer-rama. In the morning, Steve keynoted an event showcasing Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Exchange Server 2010 for the media, key customers and partners. This was followed by an employees-only “town hall” where Steve did a short presentation followed by a Q&A session. On a whim similar to the one that led me to buy it, I took the hat (along with the accordion) along with me.
Following a suggestion from my co-worker Damir, I arrived very early for the town hall, grabbed a seat by the stage and donned the hat. When Steve made his appearance, he did so in classic Ballmer style, running and whooping, high-fiving people as he made his way to the stage. As soon as he saw me, he yelled “Hey!”, put the hat on and posed with me for the photo above.
I’d made a decent splash at Microsoft in my first year, and I’d been wondering if I could match it in my second, which began on Monday. This isn’t a bad start.
This article also appears in The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century.
Tagged as:
Microsoft,
Photo,
Steve Ballmer
by Joey deVilla on October 21, 2009
by Joey deVilla on October 6, 2009
One of the features at the TechDays cross-country conference is the “Ask the Experts” booth, which is staffed all day by speakers (when they aren’t speaking, naturally) and other local tech experts. They’re there to answer attendee questions about Microsoft tools and technologies, tech trends, the industry in general, the local job scene and so on.
While riffling through the photos I shot over the past couple of weeks, I found these ones I took when I passed the “Ask the Experts” booth at TechDays Toronto and saw the trio of Sean Kearney, Steve Syfuhs and Mitch Garvis. I took one look at them, said “Uh-oh, Trouble Incorporated!”, and snapped these pics. I thought you might enjoy them:
This article also appears in Canadian Developer Connection.
Tagged as:
conferences,
Funny,
Mitch Garvis,
photos,
Sean Kearney,
Steve Syfuhs,
TechDays
by Joey deVilla on September 30, 2009
As I write this, we’re getting into the final session of TechDays Toronto, which in my track – Developing for the Microsoft-Based Platform – features SharePoint guru Reza Alirezaei doing his presentation, Developing and Consuming Services for SharePoint.
If you ask me the question “What is SharePoint?”, I’d most likely give you a description that sounds like this:
Here’s a more accurate description of what SharePoint is:
Reza’s session takes a look at another aspect of SharePoint: as a platform on which you can build and deploy custom web services that other clients can call upon.
Once his session’s done, TechDays Toronto will wrap up and then the tear-down process begins.
Next stop: Halifax on November 2nd and 3rd!
This article also appears in Canadian Developer Connection.
Tagged as:
conferences,
Reza Alirezaei,
SharePoint,
TechDays