August 2008 - Posts

• 100 Pushup Challenge? Hardly

  So there's some manly competition going around the Geek community.  Evidently Chris Williams challenged Darcy Lussier to do the 100 Pushup Challenge.  What kind of junk is this challenge?  Over the past couple of months, I've been working on both pushups, situps and squats, with NO BREAKS.  I'm up to about 35 of each.  But isn't having all of these breaks between sets of 10 and 15 pretty wussy?  Ok ok, so each of them outweigh me by 100 pounds, and can toss me around like a rag doll, but pahleeze, 100 Pushups that way is no challenge! Posted Aug 28 2008, 10:36 PM by Randy Walker with no comments

• Wasted Opportunities?

  Great quote.  Be careful what you ask for, but most importantly recognize the opportunities you've been presented with. If someone prays for patience, do you think God gives them patience, or does he give them the opportunity to be patient?  If he prays for courage, does God give him courage, or the opportunity to be courageous?  If someone prays for the family to be closer, do you think God zapps them with warm fuzzy feelings, or does he give them opportunities to love each other? -- Evan Almighty Posted Aug 26 2008, 10:20 PM by Randy Walker with no comments Filed under: Personal

• devLink Presentation Files, Discount Codes & Links

  As promised, here is the link to download the Presentation from my Starting and Running your own Software Business session at devLink in Nashville / Murfreesboro Tennessee 10% off Xheo Licensing: AHCO1008 Licensing and Obfuscation RingCentral.com Virtual PBX Phone System RentACoder Where I outsource software development E-Lance Where I outsource graphic development Microsoft Partner Program   You can follow me at Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn Posted Aug 24 2008, 10:41 PM by Randy Walker with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Business Help, devLink

• Jeffrey Palermo set to speak Thursday in Northwest Arkansas

  For those that weren't able to attend last Tuesday's Northwest Arkansas .Net User Group meeting, 8/5/2008, Zach Young (our Vice President of the group) was able to secure Jeffrey Palermo as a speaker for a special meeting this Thursday (8/14/2008).  This is a huge boon, as Jeff is one of THE most sought after speakers in North America.  Jeff is most known for the Party with Palermo series of events before each of the major conferences. Jeff hails from Austin, Texas, which was recently named the hardest drinking city in America, go figure.  You can read his blog at http://jeffreypalermo.com/   Technorati Tags: Northwest Arkansas,Northwest Arkansas .Net User Group   NWA DNUG: Jeffrey Palermo TDD, DI, and SoC with ASP.NET MVC Export Event to Desktop Event Start Date/Time: Thursday, August 14, 2008 5:30 PM (UTC -06:00) Central Time (US & Canada) End Date/Time: Thursday, August 14, 2008 8:00 PM Recurring Event: One time event Description: Title: TDD, DI, and SoC with ASP.NET MVC Description: Spelled out, it is test-driven development, dependency injection, and separation of concerns with Active Server Pages .Net Model View Controller.  This talk will dive into how to design a presentation layer using ASP.NET MVC.  In today's industry, TDD, DI, and SoC are proven concepts that lead to more maintainable applications.  Along with demonstrating how to use these techniques with ASP.NET MVC, we will discuss just what concerns should be separated.  This talk provides a unique perspective on separation of concerns and uses TDD and DI to make it happen.  MvcContrib is used in all the demos. Presenter: Jeffrey Palermo is a software management consultant and the CTO of Headspring Systems in Austin, TX. Jeffrey specializes in Agile coaching and helps companies double the productivity of software teams. Jeffrey is an MCSD.Net , Microsoft MVP, Certified Scrummaster, Austin .Net User Group leader, AgileAustin board member, INETA speaker, INETA Membership Mentor, Christian, husband, father, motorcyclist, Eagle Scout, U.S. Army Veteran, and Texas A&M University graduate. Subscribe to Jeffrey's blog feed here:  http://feeds.jeffreypalermo.com/jeffreypalermo When: August 14, 2008 5:30 PM - 6:00 PM - Sign in; Free Food; Networking 6:00 PM - 6:15 PM - Intro and general group info 6:15 PM - 7:45 PM - Presentation 7:45 PM - 8:00 PM - Drawings for prizes Where: The Jones Center 922 East Emma Avenue Springdale, AR 72764 Room 113 NetMeeting URL: http://snipr.com/3a3sz Click here to RSVP on CodeZone!!!!!!!!!!!! Category: User Group Meeting Location: Springdale, AR - Jones Center Posted Aug 11 2008, 11:30 PM by Randy Walker with no comments Filed under: Northwest Arkansas, Local Events, NWA DNUG

• Steven Curtis Chapman & Adoption & my story

  I'm sitting here in my hotel room, waiting for my son Ethan to wake so we might finish our 2 day drive to San Antonio.  Only a few minutes after my last posting about Steven Curtis Chapman did a CNN news alert come across my desktop concerning their adoption work.  Note that he'll also be on Larry King Live tonight. I supposed I had hoped to save this post for another day, but it seems as if God wants it today.  Many of my friends know that I'm adopted, but very few know the story.  Born in South Korea, I was given up for adoption at an early age.  My biological father was loving enough to want me to go to American family.  And as the story goes, there was a visiting American pastor that was so touched by the Korean people that he wanted to adopt a child.  So the resident missionary brought the pastor to an orphanage, where I was at.  It's said that for the very first time, I walked right up and sat in their laps, having always cried. My first memories are of spending time with the missionary family and my foster parents in Korea, waiting to go see the pastor in California, who was to be my new father.  God would intervene though.  My "to be" mother would not be kind, to the point where I was in an unsafe place. Amazingly enough, in a twist of God's weird fate, it is now the missionary family that I now call mom & dad.  And while my childhood hasn't been perfect, I'm thankful for where God has brought me to.  Now I have my own son, Ethan, that I can share how great God has been in my life.  He's about to meet his 2nd cousin for the first time. Over the past couple of years, I've had the opportunity to get to know another adopted Korean, Mike.  Mike is a colleague at a customer of mine, and it's been fantastic to know another like me.  Someone that I can call a true friend. So now we come back to the story of Steven Curtis Chapman and the fantastic work he's done setting up an adoption help agency.  http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Music/08/07/chapman.orphans/index.html?eref=rss_topstories   Technorati Tags: Steven Curtis Chapman,Adoption,Randy Walker Posted Aug 07 2008, 09:28 AM by Randy Walker with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Religion, Personal

• Steven Curtis Chapman shares, as do I

  It's never been an easy thing for me to share my faith, so a big thanks to someone special for sharing their intensity, their light with me. I've only ever allowed one person to look at my music collection in it's entirety.  Had you been allowed that rare glimpse, you'd be struck at how varied and eclectic my tastes are.  But since being a teenager, the one artist that has always stuck out was Steven Curtis Chapman.  Being my favorite amongst artist like Styx, Default, Beastie Boys, Crystal Method, Josh Groban, PM Dawn, and even Kelly Clarkson (yeah I've already gotten teased b4) isn't an easy task. I suppose the reason is because he is so down to earth.  He's not an artsy guy.  He's the guy you go to church with, the guy that you see driving his old Chevy truck down the dirt road.  He's the neighbor next door.  If you've ever listened to his songs, you would instantly know the man.  Who he is, what he is. The most impressive thing I've noticed is his love for his wife.  No more evident than in his lyrics.  "I will be here for you" is one of the most popular, and my personal favorite "Carry you to Jesus".  What greater love for a spouse could be found? So it was with great sadness when I heard the tragedy surrounding his daughter's passing a few months ago.  Recently the family shared their experience on Good Morning America (seen below). I cannot imagine the grief and difficulty the Chapman parents faced.  Struggling with the loss of their daughter, while having to comfort and encourage their son.  It's unimaginable.  It's something that I think only Godly, Christ like parents could have endured, and endured with such grace.  Something I hope I could emulate in my own life.  Something I hope each of you could learn by their example. So my thoughts and prayers continue to go out to the Chapman family,   Technorati Tags: Steven Curtis Chapman,faith Posted Aug 07 2008, 07:01 AM by Randy Walker with no comments Filed under: Religion

• Speaking at Nashville devLink

  It's always an honor to be asked to speak at an event.  Fortunately John Kellar who chairs the Nashville devLink event hasn't heard about my reputation, lol. One of the many things I'm passionate about is software startups.  Since I haven't had a chance to talk about this subject in a while, I'm really looking forward to it.  If you have ever thought of or intend to start your own software business, then please attend.  I guarantee it'll be one of the most engaging talks you've experienced. Here's a bio of the session: Starting & Running a Software Development Business Join Randy Walker, owner of an ISV, as he leads an interactive discussion on his successes and failures of running a software business. We will discuss marketing strategies, sales cycles, employees, networking, competition, licensing, legal issues, intellectual property, ways to keep the largest profit margin and the Microsoft Partner Program.   Technorati Tags: Nashville,devLink,Business Help Posted Aug 07 2008, 06:05 AM by Randy Walker with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Presentations, ISV, Microsoft, Accomplishments, Business Help, Partner Program, devLink