Episode 829
Joe Sharmer on Migration, Modernization and Entra
Quest Software Architect Joe Sharmer discusses the challenges of migrating data and applications to the cloud, and how to modernize an application in order to take advantage of the advanced features of cloud computing and of Entra ID.
Links:
https://quest.com
12/1
Today I am grateful to drink peach margaritas and watch Christmas movies last night.
11/30
Today I am grateful for the hospitality of Diane and Pat, who provided a place to sleep during my visit this week.
11/29
Today I am grateful for Thanksgiving dinner with my family, hosted by Katie and Josh
11/28
Today I am grateful to arrive safely in Michigan
11/27
Today I am grateful to lose 70 pounds in the last year.
11/26
Today I am grateful for my local public library.
11/25
Today I am grateful for a Reuben sandwich at Manny's delicatessen yesterday.
11/24
Today I am grateful for a relaxing day with almost no responsibilities
11/23
Today I am grateful for:
- dinner with old and new friends at Charity's house
- the company of Dan and Paul this week
- an excellent Ignite conference this week
11/22
Today I am grateful:
- to speak about Microsoft Copilot at the INFORMS conference yesterday
- to attend a party at Navy Pier last night
- to meet up with Paul, Laurent, Betsy, Jason, Justine, Patrick, Dale, Divanshi, and so many others yesterday
11/21
Today I am grateful for:
- lunch with Mihai and Georgiana yesterday
- a chance to speak at Splunk's #MSIgnite session
- dinner with Tom, Jesse, and the folks at Genpact/Rightpoint
11/20
Today I am grateful for dinner and a bike ride with Jennifer last night
11/19
Today I am grateful:
- to attend and volunteer at the Women in Microsoft "Better Together" event yesterday afternoon
- to give a presentation about Copilot Studio at the Elastic meetup last night
11/18
Today I am grateful to have a drink last night with Paul, Dan, and Charity
11/17
Today I am grateful
- to see an exciting Kalamazoo - Dominican basketball game yesterday in River Forest
- for dinner with a group of Microsoft Certified Trainers last night
11/16
Today I am grateful for lunch with Tobias yesterday
11/15
Today I am grateful to catch up on all the emails I ignored while on vacation.
11/14
Today I am grateful I was invited to speak at the Ignite conference next week.
11/13
Today I am grateful for a chance to mentor a young software developer in India.
11/12
Today I am grateful for all the things I experienced and all the people I saw during my recent vacation.
11/11
Today I am grateful:
- to see an exciting Commanders - Steelers football game on my first visit to FedEx Field yesterday
- to see Cole perform the leading role in "Romeo & Juliet" at the Folger Shakespeare theater last night and to meet up with him after the show
- to all US Veterans, especially my late father Lt. Cmdr E. Normand Giard
11/10
Today I am grateful:
- to visit 5 Smithsonian museums yesterday afternoon
- for coffee with an old friend yesterday morning
11/9
Today I am grateful for:
- a visit to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum yesterday
- an exciting Capitals - Penguins ice hockey game last night
11/8
Today I am grateful for:
- crab cakes with my cousins
- a visit to Fort McHenry, where I was asked to raise the flag
- watching an exciting Ravens-Bengals game from Row 2
11/7
Today I am grateful for dinner and drinks with Kendall last night in Baltimore.
11/6
Today I am grateful for:
- a visit to Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell yesterday
- dinner at Sam and Bobby's home last night.
11/5
Today I am grateful
- for breakfast with Dave yesterday
- to visit with my 93-year-old Aunt Tommie yesterday
11/4
Today I am grateful to see an exciting Eagles - Jaguars game last night on my first visit to Lincoln Financial Stadium.
In his 2018 book "Measure What Matters," John Doerr coined the term "OKR," which stands for Objectives and Key Results. Although Doerr came up with the name, he learned the concept from his mentor, Andy Grove, while working at Intel.
An Objective is a medium-term or long-term goal an organization strives to achieve. Key Results are specific accomplishments that help the organization achieve that goal. While an Objective can be broad, the KRs should be specific and support the Objective. An Objective describes what you want to achieve; Key Results describe how you will achieve that Objective.
Doerr was an early investor in Google, so he introduced this concept to the future tech giant, which adopted it enthusiastically and successfully. Other companies have implemented their version of OKRs, and many have succeeded with this practice.
The author recommends identifying and distinguishing between committed goals and stretch goals. You expect to achieve all your committed goals. If you fail to meet a committed goal, you should be prepared to explain why. You may or may not reach your stretch goals because you might not have all the information upfront to determine if they are achievable. But stretch goals are worth working toward, even if you are only partially successful. Some people refer to Stretch Goals as Aspirational Goals or Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs).
The book alternates Doerr's advice and analysis with passages from those who implemented his methodology. These CEOs and manager describe how they applied OKRs to their businesses and organizations. The case studies help make the concepts tangible.
The book's full title is "Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs." Doerr mentions Google often but includes only one chapter each on Gates and Bono, which does not seem enough to add their names to the title. However, their experience illustrates how one can apply OKRs to organizations outside the typical corporate world.
Key points that resonated with me about Key Results:
I have always set short- and long-term goals and tasks for myself. With the concept of OKRs, I am working toward a goal and have defined a path to reach that goal. After reading this book, I converted these work items into OKRs. Here is an example:
Objective: Learn conversational Spanish
Key Results:
- Study Duolingo lessons every day for six months
- Complete all assignments six days of every seven
Stretch KR: Travel to a Spanish-speaking country and speak only Spanish
This book encouraged me to define my goals clearly and to establish objective criteria to determine if I achieved them.
GCast 188:
Creating a Copilot Agent with Copilot Studio
Copilot Studio allows you to create a Copilot Agent without writing any code. Learn how to create, modify, and deploy an Agent using Copilot Studio.
I had the opportunity to attend the 2024 Microsoft Ignite conference last week. In exchange for a ticket to the event, I volunteered to participate in the “Ask the Experts” area, sponsored by Microsoft.
Our partner Ignite hosted a pre-conference meetup on Monday evening in Chicago’s Motor Row neighborhood. I delivered a presentation on Copilot Studio while Elastic’s Greg Crist spoke about their Elasticsearch product. Many people from my organization attended.
Ignite began Tuesday morning with a keynote presentation led by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. The keynote lasted almost three hours and included many speakers. Although there were no earth-shaking announcements, the keynote emphasized Microsoft’s commitment to Artificial Intelligence tools and improved security. You can read my summary here.
The conference set up the “Ask the Experts” area among the sponsor booths in a room dubbed “The Hub.” I worked in the AI section, answering questions about AI Search on the first day and Azure AI Fabric on subsequent days. In answering questions, I had a chance to learn more about these products. Azure AI Fabric is a rebranding of Azure AI Studio with related features added to the user interface.
Between my shifts, I found some of the partners with whom my organization works, asking them to describe their relationship with Microsoft. I received some valuable positive and negative feedback that I intend to bring back and use to improve.
Our partner Splunk asked me to co-present at their session on Wednesday afternoon. Splunk had just released its Cloud Platform on Microsoft Azure, so I described the advantages of this partnership.
Due to my volunteering commitments, I could only attend a few sessions (other than the one at which I spoke). I attended sessions on configuring security in Azure AI Fabric, Copilot Pages, and GitHub Copilot.
This week was very busy. In addition to Ignite, I delivered a presentation on Microsoft Copilot tools at the INFORMS conference at DePaul University.
I also hosted two MVPs at my home. They were traveling from far away, and i was able to provide a nearby place to stay without any financial burden.
The most significant advantages of attending were networking with Microsoft partners, customers, and MVPs and connecting with old friends. Because I live close to the convention center, two MVPs stayed at my home during the conference.
Although conference organizers promote the session content to entice attendees, I typically gain the most value in talking face-to-face with attendees, speakers, and partners. This conference provided the opportunity to learn about new technologies and how others apply them.
Episode 828
Jerry Nixon on Data API Builder
Jerry Nixon talks about and demonstrates how to use Data API Builder - a configuration tool that eliminates the need to write boilerplate code to access data in SQL Server, MySQL, CosmosDB, and PostgreSQL.
Quoyle's life was falling apart. He was obese, he had no friends, his abusive parents killed themselves, his unfaithful wife deserted him, and only her untimely death prevented her from selling their two young daughters into sexual slavery.
He decided to reset by moving to his family home in a small town in Newfoundland.
Quoyle finds work writing for the local small-town newspaper. The editor assigns him to cover local automobile accidents and the shipping news - the comings and goings of ships in the harbor. The latter topic provides the title for E. Annie Proulx's 1993 novel "The Shipping News."
Quoyle does well at his initial assignment and takes on more responsibilities at the paper, including writing a regular column. He gains confidence and begins to assert himself. At the same time, he confronts the abuse suffered by others and by him.
Proulx crafts characters and landscapes with a simple ease. Even minor characters like Aunt Angis reveal secrets that become significant to the story.
The author paints a picture of the small community where the story takes place. Each chapter begins with a description of a knot or a poem or a quote from a mariners' book, which tends to ground the reader in this seaside hamlet. The town is changing from a simple traditional life to modern ways. At the same time, Quoyle goes through a transition and finds his purpose in life. He meets a woman, solves a mystery, excels at his job, and becomes a better father.
It is a path many of us would like to take.
The Battle of Gettysburg was a turning point in the American Civil War. The Army of the Confederacy had fought well into Union territory and encamped outside the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle lasted three days, and the advantage swung wildly between the two sides. When it ended, both sides experienced tens of thousands of casualties. The Confederate army suffered historic losses and limped back toward Virginia, never to recover.
Michael Shaara's 1974 novel "The Killer Angels," tells the story of this battle from the point of view of those who lived it - Generals Lee, Longstreet, and Stuart from the South and Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and Gen. John Buford from the North.
Shaara based his fictionalized account on the history of the battle and the people who impacted it. Although the thoughts of each character are often invented, the author based them on his years of research through letters, journals, and historical records.
Confederate Generals made strategic blunders severe enough that some considered court-martial for them. Union commanders struggled to keep their recruits motivated. Soldiers showed bravery despite enormous casualties.
When Chamberlain held off the Confederate attack on the second day, it proved a critical moment that turned the tide of battle and, ultimately, the war.
Shaara's descriptions of the carnage of battle are moving and disturbing. His look inside the minds of those who participated is plausible. The author succeeds in recounting history but also in making that history personal. For example, the broken friendship between Generals Armistead and Hancock, who served on opposite sides, brings to light one of the personal costs of this war.
"The Killer Angels" is an important novel that shows the horrors of war in general and the Civil War in particular.
Yesterday’s Day 1 Keynote at the Microsoft Ignite contained some interesting announcements. Below are the ones that caught my attention.
Disclaimer: There are other announcements than these, and I may be misquoting or misinterpreting what was said. What I heard may or may not be what was said. Look at Microsoft’s official site for the definitive news. This report is what I heard and what resonated with me.
Several people talked about the Secure Future Initiative – attempts by Microsoft to make cybersecurity a higher priority. Announcements included:
A hacking workshop (https://aka.ms/ZeroDayQuest)
The Copilot and AI stack exposes each layer of your AI process, allowing you to build your own Copilot or Agent to enhance the process at any point
The Windows Resiliency Initiative allows users to quickly recover their desktop setup in the event of an attack.
Security Copilot is embedded in multiple products, allowing you to identify and respond more quickly to cyber-attacks.
Microsoft Purview uses AI to identify potential attack patterns
Controls in M365 Copilot allow you to set policies preventing you from oversharing.
Admins can restrict which models are available to which developers
Microsoft is releasing multiple “Agents,” which extend Copilot. Users can add moderators or facilitator agents to chats. SharePoint Agents were announced.
Rajesh Jha demoed an agent that offered near-real-time translation of a speaker’s voice. It even spoke in the voice of the original speaker.
Copilot Studio allows you to create CP Agents without writing code. Azure AI Agent Service allows you to write code to create more complex agents. Employee self-service agents can connect to an organization’s SharePoint, Teams, SAP, or other systems via connectors.
Copilot Analytics allow you to compare Copilot usage over time with business metrics.
Copilot pages are dynamic, persistent places to collaborate with others on content within Copilot.
Hardware
Copilot Devices are computers with NPU processors, optimized for AI
Windows 365 Link is a device that allows you to do your computing securely in the cloud.
Azure AI Foundry supports over 1800 models
Azure AI Foundry
Azure AI Foundry is a unified platform to design, customize, and manage AI solutions.
It includes over 1800 models.
Many models are in GitHub. GitHub provides a playground in which you can test a model and compare the results of two models.
Azure AI Agent Service (in preview) allows you to extend your AI solution by grounding it in other data sources.
Azure AI Content Safety provides the ability to check images and text, flagging harmful content and identifying potential hallucinations.
GHCP now offers the ability to make changes across multiple files with a single prompt
You can use GHCP to find vulnerabilities in your code. It now offers an option to fix those vulnerabilities automatically.
GitHub Copilot for Azure (in preview) generates and deploys code and services to Azure.
The new Windows Hot Patch allows faster operating system updates with 65% fewer restarts
The Windows Admin Control Center v2 allows you to manage Hyper-V machines and migrate virtual servers seamlessly.
I did not hear a lot of revolutionary changes announced this year. Microsoft is evolving its offerings and doubling down on its commitment to AI and to increased Security.
Episode 827
AL Rodriguez on Managed Identities
Microsoft Senior Azure Cloud Engineer AL Rodriguez describes the advantages of using Managed Identities to access Azure resources from your applications.
Links:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/identity/managed-identities-azure-resources/overview
https://www.mcurewind.com/
It began as a chance to see a few football games but became much more.
Years ago, I set a goal: to attend a home game of every team in the four major North American professional sports leagues. This month, I resolved to knock off a few more during a vacation along the East Coast. I chose November 2 through 11 because the Philadelphia Eagles, the Baltimore Ravens, and the Washington Commanders each scheduled home games during that time, which gave me something to do on Sunday, Thursday, and Sunday. But I was also able to attend home games by the Philadelphia 76ers and Washington Capitals during my vacation, knocking off five more stadiums/arenas from my list.
The journey began in southern New Jersey outside Philadelphia. I stayed at the home of my cousin Carol. Although only a thirty-minute drive from downtown Philadelphia, woods surround their home, where deer and wild turkeys frequently pass through their yard.
We landed Saturday morning, and I met my friend Tom for coffee. Tom and I went to high school and college together, but we had not seen one another in decades, so it was a treat to catch up.
After an obligatory Philly cheesesteak and crab fries, my cousin Linda (Carol's sister) and I attended a 76ers game. The Sixers are struggling this year, as their two best players were out with injuries, so it was no surprise that the visiting Memphis Grizzlies dominated the second half to defeat the home team.
The following day was Sunday, and the Philadelphia Eagles hosted the Jacksonville Jaguars. The heavily favored Eagles dominated most of the game, but a few costly third-quarter mistakes allowed Jacksonville to get back in the game and make it interesting before Philadelphia prevailed. The highlight came when Saquon Barkley of the Eagles leaped backward over a defender to extend his run.
Monday morning, I met my friend and former co-worker Dave Voyles for breakfast at Reading Terminal Market - an old building in downtown Philadelphia with dozens of stands, shops, and cafes.
Tuesday was our final full day in Pennsylvania, so we visited the Liberty Bell and took a guided tour of the nearby Independence Hall, where the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence.
During my stay in the Philadelphia area, I spent a lot of time with Linda and Carol, as well as their husbands. Their mother – my Aunt Tommie came to lunch one day. This was a rare treat, as I had not seen her in over twenty years. A sushi dinner at the home of Carol’s daughter Sam allowed me to meet Sam’s husband and twin sons. I had not seen Sam since she was a little girl celebrating her first Communion.
Wednesday, we drove to Baltimore. Cities on the East Coast are much closer together than in the Midwest, so the drive was less than two hours. Although the hotel I chose was nice, I was startled by the neighborhood. Numerous homeless people and boarded storefronts projected an image of decay. In the evening, I met my old friend Kendall Miller for dinner in the Fells Point area near the Patapsco River. We ventured to a post-dinner to drink local beer and swap stories of old adventures.
I met my cousins Julie and Jackie for a crab cake lunch on Thursday before touring Fort McHenry on Baltimore Harbor. Francis Scott Key awoke aboard a British ship and saw the American flag still flying above this fort after an all-night assault during the War of 1812. The sight inspired him to write the lyrics to "The Star Spangled Banner," which became our National Anthem. I had the thrill of raising this flag above the fort before we left for the evening.
Julie scored Ravens tickets from her company in the second row. Jackie's husband Jon joined us before the game, and we watched a thrilling match as the Ravens defeated the Cincinnati Bengals, despite a brilliant performance by Cincy's Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase.
I had not seen a home game of the Washington Capitals, so I drove to the District of Columbia Friday morning and watched the Caps fall to the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins in the evening. Before the game, we visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. One section detailed Adolf Hitler's rise to power, which included indoctrinating youth into his racist programs. I saw some middle school boys wearing MAGA hats at the exhibit. I am sure the irony was lost entirely on their parents.
Saturday, we spent visiting museums along the mall. A plan to visit the Spy Museum fell through, as the earliest timed ticket available was hours later. We managed to spend at least an hour in the following museums:
Sunday, the Commanders faced off against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Landover, MD. The game went down the wire (Pittsburgh came from behind to win 28-27), which kept the sold-out crowd in the stadium until the end of the game. This sudden exodus made traffic difficult as I returned to downtown DC.
I arrived at Folger Theater in southeast Washington just in time to see a production of Romeo + Juliet. This was my first time seeing my son's close friend Cole Taylor, who played Romeo. He was terrific in the role, the play was excellent, and I had a chance to congratulate Cole after the show.
Flying home Monday morning, I reflected on how much I had packed into a single vacation:
It took me days to catch up on sleep and missed emails, but it was worth it! A chance to visit family and friends, to visit new places, to learn something, to work toward completing a bucket list, and to have fun will always be worth it!
How do you tell a story with which everyone is intimately familiar and keep that story fresh?
The Folger Shakespeare Theatre in Washington DC faced this challenge when they decided to produce William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" - the classic tale of two star-crossed lovers from rival Verona families.
Director Raymond Caldwell elected to place the story in the present day and made the Capulets Hispanic, complete with extensive Spanish dialogue. More significantly, he defined the division between the Montague and Capulet clans as facing off across political boundaries. Romeo's mother (Renee Elizabeth Wilson) and Juliet's father (Todd Scofield) are engaged in a bitter election, highlighted by attack ads periodically displayed on stage.
Despite the families' bitter rivalry, Romeo and Juliet fall in love at first sight. Their forbidden love brings support from some but draws the wrath of relatives, which leads to tragedy.
Cole Taylor and Caro Reyes Rivera are delightful as the title characters. When the play began, each projected the carefree life of a privileged youth. They became pensive as their love grew, and then the audience felt their depression as they lost control of the events of their life. Luz Nicolas, as Juliet's nurse, and Brandon Carter stole the show each time they appeared on stage.
My only complaint is the focus on Juliet's drug use, which diminished her love for Romeo, in my opinion.
Sunday was the closing night of this production, which began in early October. I stuck around for the cast celebration and toast, at which I could congratulate Cole, a close friend of my son.
GCast 187:
Azure AI Services (formerly Cognitive Services) is a set of APIs that allow you to take advantage of artificial intelligence without a lot of complexity.
You can create a service for a single category, such as Vision or Speech; or you can create a general Azure AI Service that includes all of the categories. In this video, I show how to do each of these.
Episode 826
Barry Stahl discusses how to use the Fediverse to create an open, independent web. He asserts it is our Responsibility to create and empower the open web, and tells ways that we can help with this mission.
Links
https://cognitiveinheritance.com/Presentations/Lightning/Fediverse-SavingDemocracy/index.html
https://fedi.tips/
https://joinmastodon.org/
https://writefreely.org/instances
https://misskey-hub.net/en/
https://pleroma.social/
https://gotosocial.org/
https://pixelfed.org/
https://friendi.ca/
https://join-lemmy.org/
https://joinpeertube.org/
https://owncast.online/
https://www.funkwhale.audio/join/
https://hubzilla.org/page/info/discover
https://kbin.social/
https://joinmobilizon.org/en/
Viktor Frankl had a chance to leave Germany before World War II. Like many German Jews, he found himself at significant risk from the rise of Naziism. Despite obtaining a Visa to emigrate to America, he chose to remain to care for his ailing parents. The decision proved costly, as the Nazis arrested Frankl and incarcerated him in four different concentration camps throughout World War II. When Allie soldiers finally liberated his camp, he learned that his parents, wife, and brother had all perished in other camps.
In his book "Man's Search for Meaning," Frankl chronicles his time in the camps and the philosophy he created and refined as a result of that experience.
Frankl divides his book into three parts. In the first section, he recounts his years as a prisoner. He details many of the tortures he and other Jews suffered under the Nazis - starvation, overwork, unsanitary living conditions; but he spends much of the book talking about human nature.
In part 2, he details his philosophy of logotherapy, which states that man's search for meaning is his primary motivator in life. Frankl refers to this as the third Viennese School of Psychotherapy, following in the footsteps of Freud's psychoanalysis and Alfred Adler's individual psychology. During his time imprisoned, he and other prisoners sought a purpose in life.
Frankl added a third section decades later to update his experience applying logotherapy to his patients.
Each section reinforces the author's belief that man needs to find a purpose to go on living. This idea became increasingly evident when he saw men face a seemingly hopeless situation of indefinite imprisonment and punishment. Those who survived found a reason to do so. For Frankl, it was the desire to complete his unfinished work on logotherapy. For others, it was a loved one who needed them and waited for them. Still others found meaning in their own suffering.
"When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves," asserts Frankl. In other words, if we cannot avoid suffering, we can find meaning in it.
The book reads like an academic paper, but the reader cannot help but feel emotion as the author describes the atrocities suffered under the Nazis. It provides food for thought as we struggle through our own difficulties and strive to move forward.
It does not provide meaning for our lives, but it helps us to think about that meaning and discover it. I have never experienced a tragedy even close to what Frankl went through, but I have been through situations that felt hopeless, and it helped me to think of the big picture and pull myself out of a downward spiral.
Few performers can command attention when sharing the stage with over two dozen other musicians. But Stevie Wonder is no ordinary performer. Backed by a twelve-piece string orchestra, a five-piece horn section, three drum sets, three guitars, two keyboards, and five background singers, all eyes were on Stevie at the front of the stage. He sang and switched between a grand piano, electric keyboards, and a collection of harmonicas.
Stevie Wonder spent the month of October on a short tour, visiting less than a dozen cities. Although he later tacked on a visit to Chicago's United Center, the original schedule called for the tour to finish at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, MI, on Wednesday, October 30. I made the 3-hour trek from Chicago to witness Stevie for the first time. Sitting six rows from the stage, I had a clear view of the legendary performer.
The sold-out crowd rose to its feet when two of Stevie's children, Kailand and Aisha, led him onto the stage.
In recognition of the current deep political divide in the United States, Wonder released the single "Can We Fix Our Nation's Broken Heart" earlier this year. This was the first song he performed in full, but he preceded the song with an improvised jingle that included the lines: "I'm in Grand Rapids. We can change the world!"
Instead of a warmup band, Stevie invited his protege Sheléa to perform a set in the middle of the concert, giving the 74-year-old a chance to rest his throat.
During the three-hour concert, he performed songs from throughout his six-decade career. Most were from his catalog, but he interspersed The Spinners' "It's a Shame" and Parliament's "Give Up the Funk" with his hit song "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours." He also led the audience in a singalong of the standard "You Are My Sunshine" as a lead-in to his 1973 hit "You Are the Sunshine of My Life." He even honored a request from the audience to sing "Ribbon in the Sky."
Wonder moved effortlessly between funky songs like "Superstition" and "Higher Ground" to love ballads such as "My Cherie Amour" and "Golden Lady." A highlight came when he sang the mournful protest song "Village Ghetto Land," accompanied only by the strings on stage.
Between songs, his charm captivated the audience. Although blind from birth, Mr. Wonder provides an Innervesion that transcends the light spectrum.
Although Wonder performed at the Democratic National Convention earlier this year, he minimized the politics from the stage, focusing on his message to promote "joy over anger, kindness over recrimination, and peace over war." He repeated his message of love throughout the performance, and the audience voiced its approval.
Although the drive home was exhausting, the trip was well worth it.
Episode 825
Rhia Dixon talks about the benefits of adding Code Reviews to your organization's development process and how you can improve your reviews.
11/3
Today I am grateful to see a 76ers game last night with my cousins.
11/2
Today I am grateful to arrive safely in Philadelphia.
11/1
Today I am grateful for a call from Shahed yesterday.
10/31
Today I am grateful to see Stevie Wonder in concert last night.
10/30
Today I am grateful for lunch today with Chris in Grandville.
10/29
Today I am grateful to accomplish many things at work the past six months.
10/28
Today I am grateful to hang out with my neighbors yesterday, giving candy to Trick-or-Treaters.
10/27
Today I am grateful for beautiful churches.
10/26
Today I am grateful to see Manual Cinema's Frankenstein last night at the Studebaker Theater.
10/25
Today I am grateful to see Leon Bridges in concert last night!
10/24
Today I am grateful to share information about my job with Ian's team yesterday
10/23
Today I am grateful to vote.
10/22
Today I am grateful:
- to attend the GOTO Conference yesterday
- to host the Chicago Java User Group last night
10/21
Today I am grateful to see T Bone Burnett in concert last night.
10/20
Today I am grateful to get together with college friends last night in Livonia, MI!
10/19
Today I am grateful to see "Inherit the Wind" at the Goodman Theatre last night
10/18
Today I am grateful to attend a Microsoft Fabric workshop yesterday.
10/17
Today I am grateful for a call from Emilija yesterday.
10/16
Today I am grateful to attend a Purview workshop today.
10/15
Today I am grateful to attend a Copilot workshop today.
10/14
Today I am grateful
- to get my vaccinations over with
- to ride the Metra train yesterday for the first time in years.
- to watch the Lions game in Old Town with my son
10/13
Today I am grateful to see Rogers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella" yesterday on my first visit to the Metropolis Performing Arts Center.
10/12
Today I am grateful to see Spyro Gyra in concert last night.
10/11
Today I am grateful to move my ethernet cables to the ceiling where they are less obtrusive.
10/9
Today I am grateful to deliver the keynote presentation yesterday at the Finastra User Connect conference.
10/8
Today I am grateful to pass the AI-900 exam
10/7
Today I am grateful to attend the Parkview nondenominational church for the first time.
When I bought tickets to see Manual Cinema's Frankenstein Friday evening at the Studebaker Theater, I had no idea what to expect.
On its surface, this was a silent movie about Mary Shelley's life, the creation of her most famous work - the novel "Frankenstein" - and the novel's story about a mad scientist and the tragic creature he created.
The twist is that the people on stage create the movie in real-time.
Puppets, pantomime, silhouettes, vintage overhead projectors, signs with text, multiple cameras, and shadows provided the visuals. A few recorded sound effects and a musical combo (keyboard, strings, woodwinds, and percussion) provided the audio.
It is a fantastic mashup of cinema and live performance.
I often found myself looking away from the screen to the people making the magic happen and how they were doing it.
I saw overhead projectors turned on and off, over which people held dark silhouettes to project onto a screen. These showed simple animations, background images, and special effects.
I saw hands reaching from off-camera into the frame to create a sense of mystery.
I saw extreme close-ups of a puppet as it walked across a barren field or frozen tundra.
After the show, the cast invited the audience onto the stage to see the props, technology, and performers up close. I was impressed by how much was done manually. Multiple projectors cast images on a screen. Operators turned on and off the projectors via a piece of black paper dropped in front of the lens.
Many people have told the story of Dr. Frankenstein and his monster countless times in various media since the publication of Shelley's novel over two centuries ago. But never like this. MC's experimentation brought fresh life to a familiar story.
Manual Cinema began life in Chicago fourteen years ago but escaped my notice until now. Their production of Frankenstein is one of the most creative productions I have ever seen.
When they return, so will I.
GCast 186:
Using M365 Copilot with Microsoft OneDrive
M365 Copilot allows you to understand and work with files stored in Microsoft OneDrive without ever opening those files.
This video shows you how.
Episode 824
Jennifer Marsman on Generative AI and the Office of the CTO
Jennifer Marsman works on Generative AI for the Microsoft Office of the CTO. She talks about her work with strategic partners, product teams, and her participation in the Microsoft Build conference. Jennifer describes some of the generative AI demos she has created since joining the team.
Links:
https://github.com/jennifermarsman/PromptEngineeringWithDalle
https://github.com/jennifermarsman/PhiRecycling
https://github.com/microsoft/PodcastCopilot
Leon Bridges is a throwback to an earlier era of singers.
His soulful voice reminds me, at times, of Marvin Gaye and, at other times, of Curtis Mayfield.
Thursday night, the Fort Worth, TX native brought that voice to Chicago for the first of two shows at the Auditorium Theatre. Sporting a gold snakeskin jacket and white pants, he even looked retro.
We arrived shortly before the opening act - Hermanos Gutiérrez - began. This brother duo from Ecuador entertained us with their hypnotic Latin guitar and percussion as the audience filed into the theater.
Nearly every seat was full when Leon Bridges took the stage. A seven-piece band surrounded the stage's perimeter in a semicircle while Leon stood at the front and center.
For nearly two hours, Bridges sang soul, rock, R&B, and ballads.
"Music brings people together that wouldn't normally be together," he told the crowd, who responded enthusiastically. But Bridges did not do much talking, allowing the music to deliver his message.
Songs like "Texas Sun," "River," and "Bad Bad News" show the singer/songwriter's range.
He closed with the beautiful love song "Beyond," a song that my son and daughter-in-law chose for their wedding dance earlier this year.
Joseph Henry "T Bone" Burnett is known primarily as a record producer. He has successfully produced albums by Los Lobos, Brandi Carlisle, Elton John, Alison Krauss, Robert Plant, Elvis Costello, and countless others. His list of movie and TV soundtracks is impressive.
But Burnett showed off his performing skills Sunday evening at the Old Town School of Folk Music. This was Burnett's first tour in almost twenty years, and he assembled a top-notch group of musicians to accompany him.
In a show that lasted over 2.5 hours, the veteran producer/songwriter/musician/singer entertained a sold-out audience with his blend of country blues.
He began the evening with a solo performance of "He Came Down," a hymn-like song from his most recent album, "The Other Side."
While T Bone played guitar and sang, he was joined by a lead guitarist, an upright bass, and one who switched between mandolin and violin. After every two songs, a new musician walked on stage until they formed a quartet. Most of the numbers of the evening were songs written or co-written by Mr. Burnett, but he included a few covers, such as Leonard Cohen's "Tower of Song" and Elvis Costello's "The Scarlet Tide." T Bone has worked with many of the music industry's greats and told stories of his career between numbers. He consistently referred to other musicians as "cats."
Burnett closed his encore set by reprising "He Came Down," the song with which he opened the show - this time accompanied by the entire band.
T Bone Burnett has won Grammys and Oscars for the recordings he produced. But he shone tonight with his live performance.
The GOTO organization's first stated goal is: "GOTO gathers the brightest minds in the software community to help developers tackle projects today, plan for tomorrow and create a better future."
One way they accomplish this is by hosting conferences all over the world. This week, the organizers brought this conference to the Convene Conference space in Chicago's Willis Tower. I attended Monday and Tuesday, which featured presentations from a wide variety of speakers.
The agenda broke the schedule into fifteen time slots over the first two days, as follows:
I did not attend the third day, which featured workshops on building AI applications and on authentication.
Here are some key takeaways I received from the sessions I attended:
Venkat listed tradeoffs in application architecture, software engineering, career choices, and life. For most tradeoffs, the choice depends on the context of the problem. For example, it is important to set boundaries by saying "No" to requests, but early in one's career, one may wish to say "Yes" more often to get more opportunities.
Michael is known for his work on refactoring legacy code, but he is currently writing a book about using artificial intelligence. He described some patterns for effectively working with AI.
Maximiliano described the value of web frameworks and the danger of overusing them. This overuse has led to a recent trend toward writing "Vanilla JavaScript" (i.e., JavaScript code without using a framework). He demonstrated simple code that could replace functionality we often implement using a heavy framework.
Matt talked about the current state of AI - particularly the generative AI capabilities of ChatGPT. He cautioned about the range of usefulness of these tools in different parts of the world. For example, many countries have an average annual salary so low that most citizens cannot afford $20 a month for an AI service. Also, although ChatGPT works well in English, it is less accurate in some other popular languages.
Monday evening, I hosted a meeting of the Chicago Java User Group at which keynote speaker Venkat Subramaniam delivered a presentation titled "Scaling Up with Virtual Threads in Java," in which he described ways to implement non-blocking asynchronous programming in Java on the same or different threads.
I enjoyed the sessions and the people I met at this event. I hope to attend the next time GOTO comes to Chicago, and I aspire to speak at one of their conferences someday.
You can learn more about this at https://gotochgo.com/2024
On Friday, October 18, the downtown Chicago Microsoft office hosted a Prompt-a-Thon STEAM event for middle and high school students. The event was designed to expose students to AI and robotics.
Danny Kim opened the event with a keynote presentation on cybersecurity, highlighting the numerous threats facing corporations and individuals and discussing how to protect ourselves. Danny is the CTO of Full Armour Consulting, but he is also heavily involved in his local school district and with the Quest for Excellence organization, which promotes STEM education for K-12 students.
After the keynote, the students split into two groups. The first group assembled robotic vehicles and then deployed software to drive and control the vehicles for a battle bots competition. The second group was asked to create a presentation on using the Generative AI capabilities of Microsoft Copilot to solve a real-world problem. I was a mentor and judge for the second group. We selected three winning teams from the presenters, awarding each team member a Starbucks gift card or t-shirt. The winning presentations were:
Customer Success Account Manager Lori Kim organized the event. Students, parents, and volunteers came from far away. Many battled rush hour traffic to drive 40 miles from Barrington, IL to downtown Chicago. One student summarized his experience: "It was really informative and very fun and very tiring."
Episode 823
Alex Riviere on CSS Container Queries
In the second in this series, Alex Riviere describes how to use the Container Queries and Style Container Queries features of CSS to declaratively create flexible and responsive user interfaces
Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee wrote "Inherit the Wind" in 1955. They based the story on the 1925 "Scopes Monkey Trial" - a case in which the state of Tennessee accused high school teacher John Scopes of teaching the theory of evolution to his students.
Although Lawrence and Lee drew on many facts from the 1925 trial, they fictionalized the story, changing the names of all those involved, including famous lawyers Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan. In this version, Scopes became Bertran Cates, Darrow became Henry Drummond, Bryan became Matthew Harrison Brady, and the authors took liberties with some historical facts.
I saw a production of this play Friday evening at Chicago's Goodman Theatre. Under Henry Godinez's direction, Collette Pollard's minimalist set and Jessica Pabst's simple costumes allowed the authors' dialogue and themes to shine.
Henry Lennix as Drummond and Alexander Gemignani fille the stage with their orations and verbal sparring. Lennix has numerous TV and movie credits to his name, including The Martian Manhunter in Zac Snyder's Justice League. As in that role, he brings dignity and aloofness to the character of Drummond.
This play is a legal drama about the characters involved. However, it is also about human prejudice and how popular opinion can set itself against what is right. Lawrence and Lee made no secret that they intended their story as a commentary on the dangers of Joseph McCarthy and the harm caused by the fear he stoked. One can make a similar case today, as some leaders try to inspire hatred and division at the cost of the vulnerable folks in our society.
"Inherit the Wind" has lessons for us all over seventy years after its debut.
Edna Ferber's 1924 novel tells the story of Selina De Jong and her son Dirk, whom Selina nicknames "So Big," after a verbal game the two play during his childhood.
Despite the title, this story is mainly about Selina, who was orphaned when a gunman mistakenly shot her gambler father. Selina completed her education and resolved to earn her living as a schoolteacher in a Dutch farming community outside Chicago in the late nineteenth century. The harsh life of the hardworking Dutch farmers contrasts with the one where she grew up; but Selina makes the most of her situation. She stays with a host family, inspires their young son Rolf to pursue his artistic dreams rather than remain on the farm, and marries Purvis - a kindly but simple bachelor, settling into the hard life of a farmer's wife. Purvis's death leaves Selina to run the farm and raise Dirk alone.
Selina does not fit in well with the local community, but she adapts. Following the death of her husband, she deviates from traditional farming methods, trying new crops and new farming and marketing techniques. These practices, along with a lot of hard work and a bit of luck, lead to a successful life. However Selina does not measure success only by financial profit. She values beauty, kindness, and integrity, which define her character throughout her life. For years after her arrival, neighborhood farmers joke about an offhand remark she made on her first day about the beauty of cabbages.
Ferber contrasts Selina's outlook with that of her son. When Dirk comes of age, he trains and works as an architect before switching to a more lucrative career in banking.
I enjoyed Ferber's straightforward writing style and her focus on characters.
What the story lacks in plot, it more than makes up for with the development of the characters and ideas about the meaning of life. Dirk's pursuit of material gains contrasts with his mother's desire for beauty and truth. Selina was a feminist before the idea was popular. She defines success for herself and lives her life in pursuit of happiness.
It is clear that Ferber approves of Selina's choices.
GCast 185:
Copilot pages allow you to persist Copilot responses and edit them later, as well as collaborating with others on these responses.
Learn how to create and take advantage of this powerful feature.
Episode 822
Michelle Frost on Sociotechnical approaches to AI
Michelle Frost is a senior software developer for Crema and serves on the Ethical AI Council for the Center for Practical Bioethics. She talks about the history of artificial intelligence and the questions we should be asking ourselves as we implement AI solutions.
I remember watching a musical television adaptation of the classic fairy tale "Cinderella," when I was a young boy. Many of the details escape me, but I retained many songs through the decades. The songwriting duo of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II had established themselves as Broadway composers, but they wrote this show specifically for television. Although the first showing starred Julie Andrews in the title role in 1957, I believe the version from my childhood premiered in 1963 and starred Lesley Ann Warren.
In 2008, Douglas Carter Beane rewrote the book, adding scenes and subplots and modifying some of the story. In this version, Prince Topher is an orphan manipulated by his advisor, Sebastian, who uses the throne's power to exploit the kingdom's poorest citizens. With the help of her Fairy Godmother, Cinderella - a kindly orphan abused by her stepmother - attends a royal ball. Prince Topher falls in love with her beauty and kindness, but she runs away before her magic wears off at midnight. In Beane's version, only one of Cinderella's stepsisters is cruel, and one of Cinderella's closest friends is the radical Jean-Michel, who stands up to the oppressions of the palace.
Beane's version of the story runs through October 18 at The Metropolis Performing Arts Center in Arlington Heights, IL. Saturday afternoon's edition began with an adventure. Less than five minutes into the performance, the fire alarm sounded, forcing the entire theater to empty into the street for a half hour. When the show resumed, the magic began. The story was both familiar and new, with Beane's twist providing just enough deviation from the traditional fairy tale to surprise the audience. The music was wonderful, of course. Rogers and Hammerstein spent their career creating musical theater masterpieces, such as "South Pacific," "The King and I," and "The Sound of Music." Cinderella is not their masterpiece, but it is filled with memorable songs such as "In My Own Little Corner," "Impossible/It's Possible," "Stepsister's Lament," and the lovely waltz "Ten Minutes Ago."
Molly Bremer's sweetness shone through as Cinderella and Rachel Caarreras stole each scene in which she appeared as the Fairy Godmother. The sets were simple but beautiful, shifting from the woods to the palace and then to Cinderella's home, with minor changes in props and lighting.
I enjoyed the music; I enjoyed the story - both traditional and updated; and I enjoyed the memories of my childhood that this production revived.
Spyro Gyra was a major force in the jazz music scene of the 1980s when I first discovered the genre. The band released an impressive output of recorded music with their blend of jazz, funk, and R&B. I had a chance to see them twice - in 1983 and 1989, both in East Lansing, MI.
The band celebrated fifty years since its formation in 1974 with a tour across the United States. That tour brought them to Chicago's City Winery Friday evening, where they performed before a sellout crowd.
The group has had numerous lineup changes over the past five decades, but founding member Jay Beckenstein and his saxophones remain the centerpiece of the music. He also took the lead with the audience, introducing the band and most of the songs for most of the evening. When describing his tune "Old San Juan," Beckenstein explained that it has a tropical sound "because it was written in Buffalo, NY," a city that he described as "Canda's Riviera."
While Beckenstein remains the only original member, he has surrounded himself with first-rate musicians. The group no longer features a dancing percussionist, as they did in their early days, but the current lineup (sax, guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards) blend together perfectly. The drum-heavy "Percolator" and bass guitar-heavy "Good to Go" showcased the talents of Lionel Cordew and Scott Ambush, respectively, while the guitarist Julio Fernandez played excellent solos and sang the only vocals of the evening on the Cuban-influenced "De La Luz." Keyboardist Chris Fischer brought great playing and enthusiasm to his craft.
Most of the evening consisted of funky grooves overlaid with beautiful melodies, but Beckenstein provided a mournful, reverential tribute titled "The Unknown Soldier." Despite all the differences in our country, he explained, "We have no differences there," referring to our support of men and women in the military.
The concert ended with a medley of three popular songs ("Shaker Song," "Catching the Sun," and "Morning Dance") that Beckenstein explained were written in the 70s when he was in his 20s, as opposed to now, which is the 20s and he is in his 70s.
For an encore, they performed a jazzy version of Squeeze's "Tempted," which brought the audience to its feet, dancing in the aisles.
Spyro Gyra's technical craftsmanship, humor, and energy made this one of the most enjoyable shows I have seen in a long time.
Episode 821
Javier Salmeron on Bitnami and Tanzu Application Catalog
Broadcom engineer Javier Salmeron explains the Bitnami open source project and how the Tanzu Application Catalog builds on this project to provide more features to developers and managers.
Links:
https://tanzu.vmware.com/
https://bitnami.com/
https://github.com/bitnami
10/6
Today I am grateful for excellent pizza at Paisano's on Chicago's south side last night.
10/5
Today I am grateful for a new inkjet printer.
10/4
Today I am grateful to see John Gorka in concert last night, and meet him and his son after the show.
10/3
Today I am grateful for a fresh haircut.
10/2
Today I am grateful to the handyman who fixed a few things in my condo yesterday.
10/1
Today I am grateful:
- for lunch with Michael yesterday
- to see Marques Carroll at Jazz Showcase last night
9/30
Today I am grateful to attend an exciting Bears - Rams game yesterday at Soldier Field.
9/29
Today I am grateful to attend a Northwestern - Wisconsin volleyball game last night in Evanston.
9/28
Today I am grateful for an amazing run by the Detroit Tigers this past month.
9/27
Today I am grateful for a full day yesterday:
- Lunch and a visit to the Art Institute with Jeff and Amos
- Presenting at the Tulsa .NET User Group
- Hosting AI Camp
- Late-night dinner and drinks with Trinh, Sara, and Chewy
9/26
Today I am grateful to see Billy Bob Thornton and the Boxmasters in concert last night!
9/25
Today I am grateful to see "Ain't Too Proud" last night at the CIBC Theatre and to see Otis Williams in person!
9/24
Today I am grateful for dinner with Richard last night.
9/23
Today I am grateful for a new Dahon folding bicycle
9/22
Today I am grateful to play Exploding Kittens last night for the first time.
9/21
Today I am grateful to finally test negative for COVID-19 this morning.
9/20
Today I am grateful to Kevin for volunteering as a last-minute replacement for an AI panel after I tested positive again.
9/19
Today I am grateful for:
- a 100-day streak studying Spanish on Duolingo
- a bike ride through Bridgeport with Dan last night
9/18
Today I am grateful to take a day off to recover from an illness.
9/17
Today I am grateful for NyQuil
9/16
Today I am grateful to attend Mass yesterday at the beautiful St. Michael Church in Old Town.
9/15
Today I am grateful:
- to see the Mike Jones Trio last night on my first visit to the Green Mill
- to the ladies who let us share their table, so we did not have to stand the entire show
9/14
Today I am grateful to attend a Braves - Dodgers game last night on my first visit to Truist Park.
9/13
Today I am grateful:
- to present at the Quest Security Summit yesterday
- to hang out with Pat last night in Atlanta
9/12
Today I am grateful to arrive safely in Atlanta.
9/11
Today I am grateful for a call from Linda and Carol yesterday morning
9/9
Today I am grateful for my first visit to the Forge in Lemont, IL this weekend.
9/8
Today I am grateful to see three legends in concert last night: Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, and John Mellencamp!
9/7
Today I am grateful to play pickleball in Lemont yesterday.
9/6
Today I am grateful to my therapist Rosa, who allows me to rant and helps me work through my issues.
9/5
Today I am grateful for dinner last night with family to celebrate my son's thirtieth birthday!
9/4
Today I am grateful to Fernando and Andre, who made me look good by answering questions for the partner on my current project.
9/3
Today I am grateful to stumble upon an R&B band performing at the South Shore Social Beach Club yesterday
9/2
Today I am grateful to participate in Ride the Drive yesterday for the first time
I met John Gorka in 2002 after a concert in Newport, KY. For years, I had been listening to his smooth ballads, love songs, and sad songs on public radio, so I was excited to see him perform and to meet him.
Twenty-two years later, I met him again after his Wednesday evening performance at Chicago's City Winery.
Gorka's hair has turned gray in the twenty-two years between these shows. He looks frail and carries a cane, but his voice sounds the same. I heard the same rich baritone in 2024 as I did in 2002.
I was happy he played many songs from his earlier albums when he was a mainstay on my local stations. He opened with "I'm from New Jersey" off his 1991 album "Jack's Crows," a song that Gorka said embodied all the feelings of all his other songs. He also played four songs ("Branching Out," "Love is Our Cross to Bear," "I Saw a Stranger With Your Eyes," and the title track) from "I Know" - his very first album, released in 1987.
Listeners know John Gorka for the emotion he puts into his singing, and this emotion was on display in songs like "Let Them In" and "The Gypsy Life."
The singer told charming stories between songs and chatted casually with the audience. Before playing "Land of the Bottom Line," he explained that he wrote this song about a dark time in his life - a time when he had a job. After one lengthy story, he announced: "No more to say. This song is going to happen," and began playing. The 66-year-old singer/songwriter drew laughter when he picked up a half-size electric guitar and joked: "I'd like to play a little guitar for you." He told the story of meeting Pops Staples at a festival in England. Although Pops never recorded the song that Gorka sent him, he did inspire Gorka to write "Good Noise," which he performed tonight.
Although Gorka penned most of the songs he performed that night, he also treated us to a Nanci Griffith cover and a moving version of the traditional "Wayfaring Stranger."
John was alone on the stage with his guitar and piano for most of the evening. However, his son Joe Gorka joined him, providing a 30-minute solo warmup set, as well as two songs in which the pair performed together. Joe, who resides in Chicago, is a promising singer-songwriter in his own right, and the two share impressive chemistry on stage.
John Gorka never achieved the commercial success he deserved. The City Winery was less than half full on this weeknight. But he continues to perform and entertain and delight audiences.
GCast 184:
M365 Copilot allows you work with Micrsoft Excel using a natural language, such as English. In this video, you will learn how to perform complex Excel tasks, such as executing Python code, by asking questions in English.
Episode 820
Jason Bock on C# Source Generators
Jason Bock describes Source Generators - a new Roslyn-based .NET feature that allows you to configure your application to automatically generate code at compile time, based on changes to your source code.
Links:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/csharp/roslyn-sdk/source-generators-overview
https://github.com/dotnet/roslyn/blob/main/docs/features/source-generators.cookbook.md
https://github.com/JasonBock/Rocks
https://discord.com/channels/143867839282020352/598678594750775301
When I was in high school, my friends would come over to my house, and we would plug our instruments and amplifiers into the outlets of my parents' garage and play loud music, pretending to be rock stars.
Wednesday night at Chicago's City Winery, the Boxmasters reminded me of those days.
The Boxmasters are the brainchild of actor Billy Bob Thornton, who founded the group in 2007 in Bellflower, California - a town he mentioned multiple times during the evening. Seventeen albums later, the group continues to tour, bringing high energy and guitar-heavy three-chord rock wherever they go. It did not seem to bother them that the small club was less than half full. They performed for nearly two hours, with Thornton occasionally pausing between numbers to tell stories about his family, his life, his friends, and the band's past.
The "Bad Santa" star has assembled a group of first-rate musicians (two guitars, bass, and drums) while he handles the lead vocals. The solos of lead guitarist Kirk McKim were particularly impressive.
While low-resolution videos projected to the side of the stage, the Boxmasters performed almost exclusively original compositions, each with passion and energy. They closed the evening with their only cover song - a deep album cut of the Kinks that fits Billy Bob Thornton and his band.
I totally made up the story about my high friends playing music in my garage, but in my fantasies, that is how I spent my teenage Saturdays, and I sounded just like Billy Bob and the Boxmasters.
"Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations" began its six-night Chicago run Tuesday evening at the CIBC Theatre.
The show traces the iconic vocal group's rise from small gigs in Detroit to signing with Motown Records to their superstar status and through their struggles.
The Temptations became the most popular rhythm and blues group of all time, but their fame came at a cost. Drug addiction, alcoholism, and illness caused attrition among the original five members.
Founding member Otis Williams occasionally stepped to the front of the stage to narrate the story, but the saga is told primarily through the singing and dancing that made this quintet legendary. Most of the songs came from the Temptations' catalog but included a few others from their era. The lyrics sometimes advanced the story, but mostly they set the scene's mood and entertained the audience. Sergio Trujillo's choreography made every number more entertaining.
Fame was rapid when it arrived, but it came at a cost. Williams's constant travel cost him a marriage and his relationship with his son.
The music of the Temptations filled a large part of my youth when I was growing up in Detroit. This evening's show was a fitting tribute and a peek into how the band came to be. My only complaint was the acoustics, which sometimes made hearing the actors' dialogue difficult.
After the play, the audience received a special treat as 82-year-old Williams walked on stage. He is the last surviving member of the original Temptations lineup. Longtime Temptations manager Shelly Berger stood beside him, and the two spoke to the audience about their love of the music and their fondness for Chicago.
The post-performance appearance of these originals made a special evening even more special.
Episode 819
Esteban Garcia on Prompt Engineering with GitHub Copilot
Xebia US CEO Esteban Garcia discusses the value of GitHub Copilot and how to craft your prompts to use this more effectively.
Carnegie Mellon University professor Randy Pausch was 46 years old when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Doctors gave him three to six months to live – an accurate prediction. He died the following year.
Before dying, Pausch delivered a lecture at CMU, sharing his childhood dreams and how he attempted to accomplish each. He fulfilled some dreams (writing for the World Book Encyclopedia, becoming a Disney Imagineer); some dreams he changed a bit (He did not become Captain Kirk, but he met William Shatner, and he experienced zero gravity rather than becoming an astronaut); and some dreams went unfulfilled but he grew by pursuing them (playing football never led him to the NFL, but he learned about the importance of fundamentals and accepting constructive criticism).
Following this lecture, Pausch wrote "The Last Lecture." In this book, he reiterated many of the points from his talk. He also told of how he and his family dealt with the knowledge of Randy's impending death.
The CMU lecture focused on Randy's pursuit of his childhood dreams, examples of how he empowered others to achieve their dreams, and advice to the audience and the children he was leaving behind. The book covers many of the same topics relayed in the lecture but provides more details and background. His parents encouraged creativity and compassion. His football coach taught him to set goals and work to achieve them. Mentors helped him to improve by forcing him to become more self-reflective. The reader can use that same advice in their life.
One can forgive the author if this book felt self-congratulatory at times. By all accounts, Pausch led a successful life, set his priorities correctly, and achieved what he hoped. He faced his death with dignity and with what optimism he could muster. Rather than seeking pity, he sought to focus on the positive aspects of his life.
Jayne Anne Phillips's novel "Night Watch" takes place during the final months and the aftermath of the American Civil War.
A decade after the end of the war, Eliza, who has not spoken aloud in nearly a year, arrives with her twelve-year-old daughter ConaLee at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia, dropped off by a man who calls himself "Papa." Papa is not related to either woman. ConaLee's father left to fight in the war before her birth. After losing an eye and his memory, he never returned to his family. At the asylum, they meet a kindly doctor, a harsh nurse, a confused patient, and many other characters.
Through a series of flashbacks, Phillips slowly reveals each character's past. Some of their history is intertwined, although the author does not reveal this until late in the novel.
"Night Watch" does an excellent job of exposing the atrocities and trauma that war inflicts on its participants and bystanders. It also takes a hard look at mental health, exploring the effects of PTSD.
The frequent shifts in perspectives, the nonlinear narrative, and the lack of quotation marks often make the story difficult to follow. But it rewards those who pay attention with a well-written story.
GCast 183:
Using Copilot for M365 with Microsoft OneDrive
Learn how to use Copilot for M365 to analyze, summarize, and compare files stored in your Microsoft OneDrive folders.
Episode 818
Dean Schuster is an expert on User Experience (UX). He reviews some principles of good UX, some common UX mistakes developers make, and how to address those mistakes.
More than twenty years after introducing the world to Paddington Bear, Michael Bond published his eleventh story collection - "Paddington Takes the Test." Paddington lives with the Brown family in London, where his curiosity routinely gets him into and out of trouble.
The test of the title refers to a driving test in the book's first story. A case of mistaken identity leads a civil servant to take the talking bear on a driving test, which ends in a harrowing cruise through London.
Similar cases of misunderstanding occur throughout the seven stories, such as when the bear thought that Wellington boots were an ingredient in Beef Wellington.
Paddington's selfish neighbor, Mr. Curry, is featured heavily in these stories. Mr. Curry invites himself into the family's new sauna but gets locked inside; Curry tricks Paddington into ironing a fancy shirt with predictably disastrous results; and Curry gets Paddington to try out a hammock picked from the trash.
Michael Bond continued to delight readers into his third decade of stories about his most famous creation. After publishing this book, the author set aside writing short stories about Paddington for another twenty years. This volume was a good note on which to break.
Thirteen-year-old Theo was visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan when a terrorist bomb struck. The blast leveled a wing of the museum and killed Theo's mother. Before wandering from the wreckage, Theo took a valuable painting - Carel Fabritius's "The Goldfinch" - and hid it for years. "The Goldfinch" is the title of Donna Tartt's 2013 novel, which tells Theo's story.
Theo moved in first with his best friend's dysfunctional family, then to Las Vegas to live with his estranged father, who is a grifter, gambler, and alcoholic.
Theo survived to adulthood thanks to his intelligence and the help of others - most notably his disreputable friend Boris and kindly old Hobie, who took in Theo and taught him the art of restoring antiques. But, the boy grew up flawed, nursing drug addiction, treating women as objects, and with a growing tendency to bend the rules when dealing with art collectors. All the while, he was haunted by the loss of his mother and the thought of the stolen painting hidden in a midtown storage unit. When Boris re-enters his life as an adult, Theo and Boris try to undo the damage they have done.
Although the terrorist attack on the Met is fictional, the painting is actual, as is Fabritius. The artist died in a 1654 explosion that destroyed many of his works.
"The Goldfinch" is a coming-of-age story about grief, friendship, dealing with tragedy, and redemption. It is also a thrilling action story of mobsters and international art thieves. Tartt takes the reader through the rollercoaster of Theo's life.
It was a thrilling ride.
Episode 817
Justine Cocchi on Building Applications using Azure Cosmos DB
Justine Cocchi is a PM on the Azure CosmosDB team. She describes CosmosDB, its features, how it handles reliability and scalability, and how to integrate it into your applications.
How often do we see three legendary performers on the same bill? We saw precisely that Saturday evening at Tinley Park's Credit Union Amphitheatre. Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, and John Mellencamp each played a set to a sold-out audience. The three performed as part of the Outlaw Music Festival, which is traveling across the United States.
My evening began with John Mellencamp (blues/soul band Southern Avenue played a set before we arrived). The 71-year-old singer/songwriter was the youngest of the three headliners. Unsurprisingly, his was also the most energetic performance. He packed many of his hits into an hour set, including a solo acoustic version of "Jack and Diane," in which he mocked the audience (they skipped the second verse and went straight to the chorus) and himself ("I'm going to sing the second verse, even though it sucks.")
Bob Dylan followed with a set in which he decided to forego his guitar and play the piano, accompanied by an excellent ensemble of musicians. I saw Dylan perform seventeen years ago in Ypsilanti, MI, at a show where he seemed to ignore the audience. On this night, he did acknowledge the audience occasionally despite displaying his known shyness. Bob Dylan's strength has always been his songwriting, but he also mixed in covers by Chuck Berry, The Fleetwoods, and the Grateful Dead.
Willie Nelson headlined the evening. The audience's excitement was palpable when he walked slowly onto the stage. At 93 years, Nelson chooses to sit during his show, and his vocal range is less than it once was. Willie's guitar contained the scars of years of experience - not unlike his body. His hands are gnarled, and numerous wrinkles crease his face. But his joy in performing was apparent, and his guitar solos still impressed. Nelson took his time, singing each song with care. If he skipped some of the high notes, he showed emotion in his singing. His guitarist took the lead on two songs, and I wondered if this was Willie's son Lukas with eyeglasses and his long hair cut short or it may have been Waylon Payne. I could see a resemblance to each, but no one introduced the band to confirm this. On "Will the Circle Be Unbroken," Southern Avenue returned to the stage to sing backup.
I find it amazing that Nobel laureate Bob Dylan was the warmup act, but that is what one gets when Willie Nelson headlines. Even more impressive was that John Mellencamp, who possesses countless awards, platinum albums, and top 10 singles, was the warmup act to the warmup act.
Four hours of music left us exhausted and satisfied. We enjoyed every act, and I finally saw the iconic Willie Nelson in concert!
Wallace Stegner's 1970 novel "Angle of Repose" tells a story within a story.
After losing his leg, suffering through a debilitating disease, and divorcing his wife, retired history professor Lyman Ward decides to research and write about the life of his grandmother - nineteenth-century author Susan Burling Ward. Mrs. Ward suffered through a difficult marriage and financial issues as she and her husband moved across the frontiers of the western United States and Mexico.
Susan and her husband Oliver are both good people, but Oliver trusts too much, and others take advantage of him. This trait repeatedly leads to financial failures, which strains the couple's relationship.
Stegner alternates between the present-day troubles of author/narrator Lyman and the struggles of the female protagonist about whom he writes. The result is two engaging stories of people trying to maintain control of their lives. Each finds temporary escape in their writing, but it is not enough.
Lyman learns about himself by studying his grandmother.
Stegner based the character of Susan Ward on the real-life Mary Hallock Foote. He included many of Foote's letters in the book, attributing them to Susan.
The title refers to the angle at which dirt and stones settle when they fall down a slope. This may describe the canals on which the engineer Oliver worked. Stegner repeats the phrase multiple times in the book and uses this as a metaphor for the couple's relationship:
"What interests me in all these papers is not Susan Burling Ward the novelist and illustrator, and not Oliver Ward the engineer, and not the West they spend their lives in. What really interests me is how two such unlike particles clung together, and under what strains, rolling downhill into their future until they reached the angle of repose where I knew them."
Although the story lacks action, it makes up for it with the development of the characters and the parallels between grandmother and grandson nearly a century apart.
GCast 182:
Using Azure AI Document Intelligence Studio Custom Classification Model
The Custom Classification Model allows you to automatically determine a document type. This video shows how to configure this model using Azure AI Document Intelligence Studio.