Episode 892
Rod Christensen and Roan Weigert on AI Pipelines and Rocket Ride
Rod Christensen and Roan Weigert describe Rocket Ride - a service that helps accelerate the process of creating an AI pipeline. Graphically design APIs, Deployment assistance
3/1
Today I am grateful to survive another rotaion around the sun.
2/28
Today I am grateful to see "Trial on the Delta" today on my first visit to Collaboraction Theatre at the Kimball Arts Center.
2/27
Today I am grateful to see The Blind Boys of Alabama in concert last night.
2/26
Today I am grateful to deliver the world premiere of my presentation, "Automating User Interface Tests with Playwright," last night at the Pittsburgh .NET User Group.
2/25
Today I am grateful for a successful Cloud Computing User Group meeting last night
2/24
Today I am grateful to pass the "Secure AI Solutions in the Cloud" assessment today!
2/23
Today I am grateful for a party yesterday to meet and celebrate newborn baby Levi!
2/22
Today I am grateful to Eric for buying me a coffee yesterday!
2/21
Today I am grateful to watch a lot of exciting ice hockey games this week!
2/20
Today I am grateful to host and attend the AI Collective meetup last night.
2/19
Today I am grateful to attend Lantern's happy hour event yesterday.
2/18
Today I am grateful to schedule so many interviews for my show recently.
2/17
Today I am grateful to complete writing some half-finished articles last night.
2/16
Today I am grateful to catch up on sleep in my own bed last night.
2/15
Today I am grateful for:
- 2 weeks in Hawaii
- the hospitality and generosity of Debbie Giard McNerlin
2/14
Today I am grateful for a helicopter ride around Kawai and into Waimea Canyon yesterday.
2/13
Today I am grateful to see the Green Sea Turtles and Monk Seals at Poipu Beach in Kauai yesterday.
2/12
Today I am grateful for a drive around the north shore of Kauai yesterday with stops at:
- Tunnels Beach, named for a tunnel-like cave across the road
- Waimea Bay
- Hanalei Bay
2/11
Today I am grateful for a visit to the Spouting Horn on Kauai yesterday.
2/10
Today I am grateful for:
- 2 days on Maui
- my first visit to Kauai
2/9
Today I am grateful for a view of the blowhole at Nakalele Point
2/8
Today I am grateful for:
- 3 days on the Big Island of Hawai'i
- My first visit to Maui
2/7
Today I am grateful to go snorkeling with manta rays last night off the coast of the Big Island of Hawai'i.
2/6
Today I am grateful to visit yesterday:
- Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park
- The Rainbow Falls
- Kaumana Caves
- Hilo
- Carlsmith Beach
2/5
Today I am grateful:
- for 3 days on Oahu
- for my first visit to the Big Island of Hawai'i
2/4
Today I am grateful:
- to climb to the top of Diamond Head volcano yesterday
- for a drive around the north side of Oahu
- to see Five for Fighting in concert last night at the Blue Note in Honolulu
2/3
Today I am grateful for
- a visit to Pearl Harbo and the USS Arizona Memorial yesterday morning
- a visit to the Dole Plantation in the afternoon
The Blind Boys of Alabama began singing together in 1939 in Talladega, Alabama. All the original members of the band have passed away, but the group survives with three singers and a backing band featuring guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards. I have been listening to their music for years, but I finally attended a BBA concert Thursday evening at the SPACE nightclub in Evanston.
The group's music consists of gospel, R&B, and blues, but mostly gospel. And all of it centers on praise for God. But you do not have to be a believer to appreciate the joy this group brings to their music. The show's energy increased as the evening wore on, improving with each song. They included several songs from their most recent studio album, "Echoes of the South", including "Send it on Down", "Friendship", and "Work Until My Days Are Done". But they drew on many older songs from their catalog, such as "Wade in the Water" (a beautiful a capella version), "Nobody's Fault", and "Uncloudy Day." They borrowed from popular music, providing their gospel-tinged interpretaion of Tom Waits's "Way Down in the Hole" and Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky". Highlights included "Amazing Grace", sung to the tune of "The House of the Rising Sun" and "Praying Time" to the tune of Ray Charles's "Crying Time".
Each singer showed great range individually, but they were at their best when combining their voices into tight harmonies. They joked with the audience, claiming they were "watching TV" and that they could see a cousin in the audience, despite each of the trio lacking the sense of sight.
I was surprised to see the group return to the stage for an encore, given that their manager had to lead them back. But they finished with a rousing version of Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground", which brought the sold-out crowd to its feet.
The Blind Boys brought joy to their music tonight and projected that joy onto the audience.
GCast 211:
Creating and Managing a SharePoint Agent
SharePoint Agents allow users to ask questions about SharePoint sites, lists, and document libraries. In this video, I show how to create, manage, and share a custom SharePoint Agent.
Episode 891
Breaking News: You won't believe what Rachel says about dark paterns! The answer will leave you astonished! JetBrains Developer Advocate Rachel Appel describes deceptive UI practices. She cautions developers and marketers to avoid these practices, which often lead to a loss of trust and other long-term problems. She informs users what to watch out for, and how to remain vigilant.
A few years ago, my sister, Debbie, moved to Kawai. She repeatedly invited me to visit her, and my default response was: "Yes, I will. But not yet. It's not a good time." I regretted this procrastination when she moved back to Michigan without my promised visit.
This past November, Debbie bought a condo on Kauai and moved back there. I resolved not to repeat my mistake, so I planned a trip for early February. The trip lasted 13 days and took me to 4 different islands.
We departed for Honolulu in February with flight and hotel reservations for four islands - Oahu, The Big Island of Hawai'i, Maui, and Kauai. This was my first visit to the Aloha State in 37 years, a trip I took between finishing graduate school and starting my first professional job. In those days, I had very little disposable income, so I saved wherever I could, and I visited only the island of Oahu.
I resolved to splurge more on this visit. A major highlight of my recent trip was a helicopter flight around Kauai, including a dive into the Waimea Canyon, which has no roads for automobiles. A light rain fell during our flight, limiting visibility but allowing us to see rainbows from above.
Another treat was seeing a live volcano - Kīlauea - erupt at Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park. Most of us picture a volcano as a cone-shaped mountain with red-hot lava spewing from a hole at the top center. Thanks to the volcano's age and the number of eruptions, Kīlauea is nearly flat. Steam billowed from the crater, which was surrounded by a plateau of dried black lava.
A visit to Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona memorialized the thousands who died on the morning of December 7, 1941, in a surprise Japanese air raid, which was successful in the short term but inspired the United States to enter World War II in the Pacific, leading to the defeat of the Japanese Empire.
A hike up the dormant volcano Diamond Head offered spectacular views of Oahu and a sense of accomplishment.
A local excursion company offered the opportunity to swim with manta rays off the coast of the Big Island, so we signed up. A sunset boat ride brought us to a cove where they shone lights into the water, and equipped us with snorkeling gear. I was transfixed as dozens of manta rays - some with wingspans exceeding ten feet - approached the light, often brushing against my arm before diving into the depths.
Hawaii offers beautiful sunsets over the Pacific Ocean from every island, and I saw some spectacular views.
The only drawback occurred during our stay on Maui. I have heard of the beauty of this island, but high winds and heavy rains prevented us from enjoying much of it during our two-day stay. Inclement weather forced the cancellation of the morning whale-watching cruise I had reserved, so we spent much of the day inside watching the Super Bowl. I braved the elements to take a treacherous drive on a narrow, winding Maui road to see the Nakalele Blowhole from above. Ocean waves crash under the shoreline rocks and spew dozens of feet in the air through a blowhole. Kauai also boasts the Spouting Horn blowhole, which was nice but less impressive.
We visited numerous waterfalls on Kauai and The Big Island. Rainbow Falls on the latter was the most beautiful.
One night, I noticed that Five for Fighting was performing at the Hawaii Blue Note club in Honolulu, so we bought tickets. It was an enjoyable show, and his daughter joined him onstage for one song.
A beach on the southern coast of Kauai is a nesting ground for sea turtles, and we witnessed dozens of them crawling up from the ocean. We were also fortunate to witness Hawaiian monk seals that had crawled onto a beach to sun themselves just a few yards away - behavior they only exhibit every few weeks.
We visited many food trucks, drank many mai tais, ate kalua pork tacos and poke bowls; we did a lot of driving and witnessed much of the natural beauty these islands have to offer; and we spent quality time with my sister. Debbie was an excellent host during the five days on Kauai. She showed us the sights, drove us around, and even loaned her car for hours at a time. It was an amazing trip that yielded many memories that will last for years. I do not plan to wait another 37 years before I return.
Video of Helicopter ride over Kawai
William Shakespeare wrote The Tragedy of King Lear in 1605. Almost four centuries later, Jane Smiley offered her interpretation of the Bard's story with her 1991 novel "A Thousand Acres."
In Smiley's book, King Lear becomes farm owner and family patriarch Larry, and she rechristens Lear's three daughters - Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia - as Ginny, Rose, and Caroline. As in the original play, Smiley's story includes sibling rivalry, a patriarch who goes mad and pushes away his daughters, generational conflict, madness in a driving rainstorm, and a friend who loses his eyesight.
This novel explores many themes from King Lear, including family dynamics, gender roles, and betrayal. But Smiley makes the story her own, taking the characters in a new direction. She brings home this tragedy by placing the characters on a modern farm and introducing a childhood filled with alcoholism, sexual abuse, and repressed memories. The bastard son becomes a prodigal draft dodger, and his father's blindness occurs more covertly. The abusers of "A Thousand Acres" hide their sins by their public civility and respectability.
"Acres" puts its own spin on the Bard's tragedy, setting her story in twentieth-century rural Iowa. Family patriarch Larry decides to retire and leave his farm to his daughters, but excludes his youngest, Caroline, when she fails to express sufficient enthusiasm for the idea. The eldest daughter, Ginny, tells the story in the first person, providing background and motivation absent from Shakespeare's tale. While Lear's daughters betray their father for greed, Larry's daughters have good reason for their animosity. "King Lear" ends with the death of his daughters and the monarch's remorse. There is death in this twentieth-century tale, but many of the characters survive, and the father never repents his sins. The daughters seek revenge on their father and partially achieve it, but this brings them no peace.
Ms. Smiley has a gift for bringing the reader into a scene by revealing small details, such as the signs on the store next door or the sound in the next room. She also has a habit of revealing major plot developments with a single sentence. A major character dies in an automobile accident just before the end of a chapter—no buildup, no foreshadowing - just the sudden and unexpected demise.
"A Thousand Acres" draws on Shakespeare's King Lear as a blueprint, but it goes beyond that inspiration to tell a story that remains relevant today.
Episode 890
Rachel Appel on Retro AI and How Algorithms from the Commodore 64 Era Still Apply
Despite the recent hype, AI is not new and is not limited to tools like ChatGPT. JetBrains Developer Advocate Rachel Appel talks about the patterns and algorithms developed decades ago that led to advances in artificial intelligence.
GCast 210:
Incorporating Playwright Tests into a GitHub Action
Learn how to call Playwright automated UI tests from a GitHub Action
Here is the YAML used in this demo:
name: Playwright Tests Demo
on:
push:
branches: [main]
pull_request:
branches: [main]
permissions: # Required when using Microsoft Entra ID to authenticate
id-token: write
contents: read
jobs:
test:
timeout-minutes: 60
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v4
- name: Login to Azure with AzPowershell (enableAzPSSession true)
uses: azure/login@v2
with:
client-id: ${{ secrets.AZURE_CLIENT_ID }}
tenant-id: ${{ secrets.AZURE_TENANT_ID }}
subscription-id: ${{ secrets.AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID }}
enable-AzPSSession: true
- name: Install dependencies
run: npm ci
- name: Run Playwright tests
env:
PLAYWRIGHT_SERVICE_URL: ${{ secrets.PLAYWRIGHT_SERVICE_URL }}
run: npx playwright test -c playwright.service.config.js --workers=20 --reporter=list,html
- name: Upload Playwright report
uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
if: always()
with:
name: playwright-report
path: playwright-report/
retention-days: 10
Episode 889
Tim Rayburn on How AI Resets the Agile Manifesto
Improving Vice President Tim Rayburn has been following agile practices for years. But these days, he is rethinking the baseline assumptions that went into the Agile Manifesto. We now have better tools thanks to AI, and that changes how we set our prorities. He explains.
Singer/musician/composer/entertainer John Ondraszyk is known professionally as "Five for Fighting." FFF loves his family, and he loves Hawaii, and he showed his love for each Tuesday evening at Blue Note Hawaii in Honolulu.
Ondraszyk and his wife honeymooned in Honolulu years ago. While performing at a Hawaii luau years later, he invited his 6-year-old daughter, Olivia, on stage, where she confidently pushed him aside and sang Dolly Parton's "Jolene" to a delighted audience. Olivia is now 24 years old and sings professionally as half of the duet, "Lace and Lee." John told the luau story on Tuesday, then surprised the audience by inviting Lace and Lee on stage to sing "Jolene" again. The audience was delighted, and Ondraszyk was understandably proud. After the young ladies left the stage, he smiled, remarked on the aging of his daughter and himself, and wondered aloud whether there was a song he could perform that spoke to the passage of time in our lives. If so, this would be an ideal time to play it. Of course, his hit song "100 Years" is exactly about this, and he immediately launched into this tune.
He reinforced his attachment to the Aloha state by playing "All for One," the song he composed for the hundredth episode of "Hawaii 5-0." Because his band seldom plays this number, he apologized to the table in the front row before blocking their view with a music stand to remind him of the lyrics.
John is a longtime supporter of the US military, and he spoke of his commitment to supporting our troops, including performing at USO shows around the world. He played a version of his hit song "Superman," which he had modified to honor one of the hostages recently freed from captivity in Gaza. He followed with "Two Lights," a song honoring the families of soldiers waiting at home to learn if their loved one in a combat zone was dead or alive.
FFF played for only a little over an hour, but it was an entertaining hour.
When is a musical not a musical? When it is a play about a musical group recording an album.
"Stereophonic" is a play about a rock band taking years to record an album while facing the pressure of following up their previous Number 1 album! Their record label gives them plenty of time and money, but they spend three years in the studio, and the pressure affects their relationships with one another. Tempers flare, and personal relationships dissolve. At the start of recording, two romantic relationships exist within the five-person group. One is destroyed because the man is a self-pitying drug addict and alcoholic. The album producer destroys the other relationship with his behavior. Although he is a perfectionist, he is also condescending and insulting toward others, particularly his partner. The fifth member loses his family in England due to his prolonged absence in California.
Because the story takes place in the 1970s and the unnamed band consists of British and American musicians, many believe it is a chronicle of Fleetwood Mac's creation of their classic "Rumours" album. That real-life session strained the romantic relationship between Stevie Nicks and Lyndsey Buckingham.
I don't know if playwright David Adjmi intended this as a reflection of Fleetwood Mac, but he brought a great deal of emotion to this script. The dialogue sounds real, and the uncomfortable silence adds to the building tension among the characters.
Composer Will Butler draws on his work with the band Arcade Fire to provide an excellent soundtrack for the show. Unlike a musical, the song lyrics do not drive the story forward. Instead, the band focuses on recording the ultimate version of each song - often involving multiple takes.
The cast of "Stereophonic," who performed at Chicago's CIBC Theater Friday night, gave life to Adjmi's characters.
The show was not a musical, but it had great music and great emotion.
2025 was a year of renewal for me. I continued some good practices and returned to doing some of the things I enjoy.
My sons continue to do well in their careers and personal lives. Tim and Natale bought their first house this year. It is a few miles from my home. I am blessed that they each live within a couple of hours' drive, so I get to see them often.
In the middle of 2024, I committed to doing a set of things each day. These included:
- Read 1 chapter of the Bible
- 10-20 minutes of stretching
- 3-5 minutes of core exercises
- Study a language for 15-45 minutes each day
- Practice piano chords for a few minutes
In addition, I try to include at least one of the following physical activities: riding a bike, going to the gym, or walking up the stairs in my condo building. I am less concerned with the amount of time spent on each activity than with the fact that I do them each day. I continued these habits through 2025. Initially, I made sure I did them each day. Now, I complete them all each day before doing anything else. Of course, I struggle with this when I disrupt my routine, such as when I am traveling or have an early morning meeting. But these tasks take me 45-90 minutes per day, and I almost always complete them before anything else. This practice improves some of my skills, knowledge, and health, and it also motivates me to stay active throughout the day.
This past year, I made progress on my sports bucket lists. Years ago, I set a goal to see a home game of each MLB, NFL, NHL, and NBA team in their current arenas.
For my birthday last year, my sons bought me tickets to a Miami Marlins home game. They knew about my bucket list to attend a home game at each MLB stadium, and that the Marlins were the only remaining team on it. We all flew to Miami to complete the list together. For extra fun, I attended a home Dolphins game the following day, then a Tampa Bay Rays game in Tampa a few days later. Although I didn't require the Rays visit (I attended a Tampa Bay home game a few years ago), I wanted to see the team play in the Steinbrenner Field while the Tropicana Dome is being repaired. In the spring, I had seen the A's play in a Minor League Park in San Francisco - the team's temporary home as they make the transition from Oakland to Las Vegas.
I nearly finished my NFL bucket list thanks to many flights in November and December. Currently, the only remaining stadium is MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ. Because the New York Giants and the New York Jets each call that stadium home, I decided I needed to attend a home game for each team there. However, the Buffalo Bills will open a new stadium this fall, so I need to return to upstate New York, as well.
I did not visit any new NHL arenas, but I saw games in Detroit and Chicago.
I planned a few trips to visit multiple stadiums on the same visit, including the Panthers (NFL) and Hornets (NBA) in Charlotte; the Marlins (MLB) and Dolphins (NFL) in Miami, the A's (MLB), Kings (NBA), and Warriors (NBA) in California.
Here are the details of my life as a sports spectator this year:
I attended home games of the following MLB teams in 2025.
I attended home games of the following NFL teams in 2025.
I attended home games of the following NHL teams in 2025.
I attended home games of the following NBA teams in 2025.
This year, I attended my first rugby match. Chicago has a semi-pro team - The Chicago Hounds - so I drove out to Bridgeport to watch a game. I read up on the rules before driving there, which increased my enjoyment.
I made numerous visits to Kalamazoo College to watch my son coach the Hornets' basketball team.
In November, I attended an ice hockey game at Western Michigan University, the defending national champions. They handily defeated Miami University.
Conferences, user groups, and code camps continue to emerge from the forced hibernation of the COVID tragedy. I took advantage of the opportunity to speak at Codemash in Sandusky, OH, KCDC in Kansas City, MO, and NDC in London, UK.
I had no work travel this year, so I planned some trips for my own enjoyment. Many of these were to make progress on my sportsball bucket lists described above. Others were to attend conferences.
The two highlights were a late January/early February trip to England and Spain, and a summer visit to Istanbul and Greece. I took advantage of an invitation to speak at NDC London and vacationed in Madrid and Barcelona after the conference ended. My friend John grew up on the Greek Island of Chios. He and his wife, Kim, invited us to visit them there. We first flew to Istanbul, Turkey, to spend a few days exploring before meeting John and Kim in Athens, where we stayed to explore Greek history. From Athens, we traveled to John's childhood home on Chios and relaxed by the water.
I continue to be a patron of the arts because I love live music and theater, and because downtown Chicago has so many places to enjoy them. In addition to 41 concerts and 9 plays during the year, I attended
I attended 41 Concerts in 2025 - an impressive number, even for me.
| Date | Artist | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 01/03/2025 | Bill Murray and his Blood Brothers | Thalia Hall |
| 01/10/2025 | Buddy Guy | Buddy Guy's Legends |
| 01/03/2025 | Bill Murray and his Blood Brothers | Thalia Hall |
| 02/14/2025 | Justin Timberlake | United Center |
| 02/19/2025 | Tiffany | City Winery |
| 02/21/2025 | Joe Bonamassa | Chicago Theatre |
| 03/11/2025 | Elvis Costello | Park West |
| 03/16/2025 | Mamma Mia! ABBAfabulous brunch | City Winery |
| 03/23/2025 | Suzanne Vega | Old Town School of Folk Music |
| 03/24/2025 | Iggy Pop | Salt Shed |
| 04/01/2025 | Robert Cray | North Shore Center for the Performing Arts |
| 04/04/2025 | Emmylou Harris | Cahn Auditorium |
| 04/10/2025 | Ani DiFranco | Thalia Hall |
| 04/22/2025 | Iron and Wine | Orpheum Theatre, Madison |
| 05/02/2025 | Joe | Arie Crown Theater |
| 05/09/2025 | Alan Parsons | River Casino |
| 05/12/2025 | Lalah Hathaway | City Winery |
| 05/23/2025 | Vince Gill | Chicago Theatre |
| 05/24/2025 | Paul Simon | Symphony Center |
| 05/30/2025 | Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan, Patti Labelle, and Stephanie Mills | United Center |
| 06/06/2025 | Judy Collins | Cahn Auditorium |
| 06/12/2025 | Garrison Keillor | City Winery |
| 06/27/2025 | Del McCoury Band | SPACE |
| 07/29/2025 | Macy Gray | Ramova Theatre |
| 08/03/2025 | Firefall | Arcada Theatre |
| 08/09/2025 | Herb Alpert | Harris Theatre |
| 08/22/2025 | Bossa Nova Notes w/ Najee | City Winery |
| 08/28/2025 | Laretha Weathersby | Willie Dixon Blues Garden |
| 09/10/2025 | Roger McGuinn | North Shore Center for the Performing Arts |
| 10/02/2025 | The Midnight Sun Band | Hyde Park Summer Festival |
| 10/03/2025 | Il Divo | Horseshoe Casino |
| 10/04/2025 | Bob Mould | Old Town School of Folk Music |
| 10/16/2025 | Jonathan Coulton | City Winery |
| 10/31/2025 | Little Big | Ramova Theatre |
| 11/02/2025 | Everclear | Thalia Hall |
| 11/07/2025 | Josh Ritter | Thalia Hall |
| 11/13/2025 | John Scofield | SPACE |
| 11/14/2025 | Keyon Harrold | Jazz Showcase |
| 11/18/2025 | Patti Smith | Chicago Theatre |
| 11/22/2025 | Cyrus Chestnut | Jazz Showcase |
| 12/07/2025 | Damien Escobar | City Winery |
In 2025, I attended thirteen plays, musicals, or other live shows. We visited the famous theaters of London's West End and New York City's Broadway multiple times during our visits to those cities. I also saw a Cirque du Soleil show for the first time during a December trip to Las Vegas.
| Date | Show | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 01/25/2025 | Tina | Aldwych Theatre |
| 01/26/2025 | Hadestown | Aldwych Theatre |
| 01/28/2025 | Lyceum Theatre | The Lion King |
| 02/17/2025 | Betrayal | Goodman Theatre |
| 04/18/2025 | Sunny Afternoon | Chicago Shakespeare Theatre |
| 05/25/2025 | Rossum's Universal Robots | City Lit Theater Company |
| 06/18/2025 | Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends | Samuel J. Friedman Theatre |
| 06/19/2025 | Hell's Kitchen | Shubert Theatre |
| 06/28/2025 | The Color Purple | Goodman Theatre |
| 11/20/2025 | A Beautiful Noise | Cadillac Palace Theatre |
| 12/12/2025 | Elf, the Musical | Auditorium Theatre |
| 12/16/2025 | Christmas with C.S. Lewis | Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place |
| 12/27/2025 | KÀ by Cirque du Soleil | MGM Grand |
The Chicago Humanities Festival brings an interesting series of lectures to the Windy City. I joined the organization and attended several lectures in 2025.
| Date | Speaker | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 05/15/2025 | Dave Berry | Chicago Hope Academy |
| 06/03/2025 | Ron Chernow | First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple |
| 09/21/2025 | Cheech Marin | Apollo's 2000 |
| 10/04/2025 | Nate Silver and Richard Thaler | IIT Hermann Hall |
| 10/18/2025 | Steven Levitt | University of Chicago - Reynolds Club |
| 11/08/2025 | Margaret Atwood | Francis W. Parker School |
My day job as a Partner Solution Architect at Microsoft remains enjoyable. I love working with smart people and for managers who appreciate me. The economy has caused some uncertainty, reflected by multiple layoffs by tech giants over the past year or so. I try not to focus on this, but to affect the things I can control.
I have lost count of how many years I have volunteered as a mentor for the ISTC STEM Challenge, but I served again this year, and I have already volunteered for next year. I was part of a team that coached students at Chicago Tech Academy as they built an IT project to present at a spring showcase event.
I finished reading 36 books in 2025. I set a goal to read every winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. I have now read 81 of the 109 books awarded so far. There is a small chance I will complete this list in 2026, but 2027 seems more likely.
I was also in two book clubs, which drove some of my reading choices.
You can read my reviews at https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/34556655?ref=nav_mybooks
I continued publishing to my blog and recording content for my two YouTube shows - "Technology and Friends," which airs every Monday, and "GCast," which airs every other Thursday. I also hosted a show for the Azure Kubernetes Service team, titled "Cloud Native Partner Showcase."
I am continuing the healthy lifestyle I began a few years ago. I have not (yet) regained the 60 pounds I lost a few years ago. I start each morning with 10 minutes of stretching, and I try to include a few minutes of core exercises each day. In addition, I played a lot of pickleball, and I rode my bike a lot this summer. It was a rare day that I did neither of those activities.
In 2024, I met and began dating a woman, and this relationship continues 18 months later! I love that she sees the best in me and appreciates what I do. I often say that she is "not perfect, but she is perfect for me."
I am facing 2026 with optimism. I am in a good place with my relationships, my family, my health, and my career. I have not set a date, but I won't have to wait too many years until I stop working. Maybe my company will make that decision for me, but I am prepared. Over the past couple of years, I have done a better job of balancing work and life. I am doing many of the things now that I plan to do more of when I retire. This year, I plan to continue this practice - traveling, exercising, seeing live shows, and speaking at conferences. In the past two months, I submitted to speak at a few conferences in Europe. I am hopeful that some of them decide to invite me.
In the meantime, I am trying to control what I can and put my faith in God to help with what I cannot.
Episode 888
Brian McKeiver on Microsoft Foundry
Brian McKeiver's company Bizstream has been solving customer problems for 25 years. He talks about the evolution of the Azure services that became Microsoft Foundry, and how to use Foundry to develop and deploy your AI solutions.
2/1
Today I am grateful to receive my Real ID just in time for my next flight.
1/31
Today I am grateful to see the play "Stereophonic" last night at CIBC Theatre.
1/30
Today I am grateful to host and attend the Chicago Java User Group last night
1/29
Today I am grateful to celebrate Dan's birthday last night with Dan, Charity, and Donna.
1/28
Today I am grateful to deliver a presentation on ChatGPT last night at UniFormChicago.
1/27
Today I am grateful for my annual physical early this morning.
1/26
Today I am grateful to see Don Was and the Pan-Detroit Ensemble in concert last night and to meet Don after the show.
1/25
Today I am grateful to arrive home safely after driving from Kalamazoo on hazardous roads last night.
1/24
Today I am grateful for a new green screen.
1/23
Today I am grateful to complete 3 days of training on "AI Path to Production," learning about and practicing project discovery and architecture design.
1/22
Today I am grateful for a new stove, microwave, and oven.
1/21
Today I am grateful for a visit to the Art Institute of Chicago
1/20
Today I am grateful for exciting football games this weekend.
1/19
Today I am grateful for the positive changes driven by and inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
1/18
Today I am grateful to try the famous rotisserie duck at The Duck Inn for the first time yesterday.
1/17
Today I am grateful to Brian and all the volunteers who make #CodeMash a success every year!
1/16
Today I am grateful for a late-night visit to the water park last night.
1/15
Tzoday I am grateful for a dinner with Microsoft MVPs last night
1/14
Today I am grateful to the woman who told me I inspired her to get into public speaking.
1/13
Today I am grateful to reconnect with many old friends this week.
1/12
Today I am grateful to arrive safely in Sandusky.
1/11
Today I am grateful for front-row seats to see Najee in convert last night.
1/10
Today I am grateful to discover an old gift card that I initially missed.
1/9
Today I am grateful that God sent his only son to save us.
1/7
Today I am grateful for a homemade Texas BBQ lunch yesterday at Improving, courtesy of Tim Rayburn
1/6
Today I am grateful for dinner last night in Fulton Market to celebrate Natale's birthday.
1/5
Today I am grateful to pass the GH-300 certification exam last night.
Just because your name is at the top does not mean you have to hog the spotlight. Producer and musician Don Was performed Sunday evening at Garcia's in Chicago's West Loop, where he kept the focus on his band, The Pan-Detroit Ensemble. Garcia's was an appropriate venue for this band. The club is named in honor of Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia and often features Grateful Dead tribute bands. Was collaborated for years with Dead guitarist Bob Weir and, on this night, the group played all songs from the GD's 1975 album "Blues for Allah." The tour began last year to celebrate the album's 50th anniversary, but it became even more poignant after Weir's passing earlier this month.
Mr. Was began the show by reading a poem written in honor of Jerry Garcia shortly after his death. He dedicated the reading to his friend Weir.
After this tribute, Was stepped back and let the nine-piece band take over. He provided rhythm on his upright bass but allowed others in the band to shine. And what a band he assembled! Each instrumentalist excelled at their craft. The group boasted a university professor, an Oscar winner (keyboardist Luis Resto, co-composer and co-producer of Eminem's "Lose Yourself"), and a group of artists who have played with major stars. The dance moves of singer Stefanie Christi'an might have stolen the show, had it not been for her impressive vocal range. Each band member came from Was's (and my) hometown of Detroit. When playing cover songs, Don insisted they were not doing karaoke. They put their own spin on each song, as they "Detroit-ified" the music.
Was described the Ensemble's music as "Soul Jazz," and their debut album - "Groove in the Face of Adversity," reflects this label.
Don Was has an impressive resume. He has produced albums by The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, John Mayer, Willie Nelson, Elton John, and Bonnie Raitt. He is the President of Blue Note Records. He has won six Grammys! He does not need to prove himself. He brought a great band and an excellent performance to Chicago on a chilly night.
GCast 209:
Running Tests in an Azure Playwright Workspace
Learn how to run Playwright automated UI tests in the cloud using Azure Playwright Workspaces
Episode 887
Sam Basu on Developer Productivity with Contextual AI
Uno Platform Developer Advocate Sam Basu explains concepts, such as Large Language Models, Natural Language Processing, agents, Generative AI, and MCP Servers. He explains how these concepts work together to improve developer productivity, and some of the Uno Platofrm tools that can increase productivity.
Episode 886
Akash Dubey on Microsoft Learn
Akash Dupey talks about the material available in Microsoft Learn, and the best way to access this material, using built-in AI tools that allow you to search using a natural language like English.
Links:
learn.microsoft.com
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/support/mcp-get-started
https://github.com/microsoftdocs/mcp
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/support/integrations
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/skills-hub-blog/supercharge-your-workflow-with-real-time-information-from-the-microsoft-learn-mc/4440286
Middle-aged book publisher Phillip Carver grew up in Tennessee, but now lives in New York City. He returns to his hometown when his sisters call, urging him to talk their octogenarian widowed father, George, out of marrying a much younger woman.
This journey is the incident that provides the title of Peter Taylor's 1986 novel, "A Summons to Memphis."
Carver moved away to escape an unhappy childhood. The sadness began when bad investment advice from Mr. Carver's business associate, Louis Shackelford, cost the family their fortune, forcing them to move from the cosmopolitan city of Nashville to the smaller, rougher Memphis of the early twentieth century. The death of their mother, Minta, and their father's habit of driving away his children's suitors made life difficult for the family. Phillip's sisters grew to be spinsters who dressed and lived like teenagers well past middle age, while their brother Georgie enlisted in the army and died fighting in World War II.
Taylor slowly reveals the family history through a series of flashbacks that allow the reader to see each character in a new light. The sisters' intervention feels like meddling until we understand the tension in which they grew up and the resentment they feel toward a father who sabotaged their romantic prospects and their chances at love. The family considered their move to Memphis a step down from the more refined Nashville. They left the world of fox hunts and debutante balls for a smaller home and a less civilized life in Memphis. The strain led directly to the despair and death of the mother. These traumas - both real and perceived - strained familial relationships.
"A Summons to Memphis" is a story of betrayal, trauma, understanding, forgiveness, and reconciliation. The book won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for its well-developed characters and entertaining prose. While not a classic, this novel is an enjoyable read.
Anne Tyler's 1988 novel "Breathing Lessons" takes the reader through a single day in the life of middle-aged couple Ira and Maggie Moran. These two have been married for many years but have drifted apart, primarily because of their different personalities. Ira is logical, cold, and methodical, while Maggie is emotional, friendly, and slightly scatter-brained. The story opens with Maggie causing an automobile accident while pulling out of a garage that had just finished repairing the car after her last accident. She missed the oncoming traffic because she was distracted by a caller to a radio show announcing a second marriage, and she convinced herself the caller was her former daughter-in-law, Fiona. Ira and Maggie travel from Baltimore to Pennsylvania for the funeral of a childhood friend, where they interact with their middle-aged former classmates, many of whom lament their lost youth. On the way home, Maggie convinces Ira to stop and visit Fiona and their grandchild, whom they have not seen in years. During this visit, Maggie convinces Fiona to return home with them and have dinner with their son (and her ex-husband) Jesse. The reunion does not go as Maggie had hoped.
Tyler brings to life a set of flawed characters. None is evil, but they cannot get out of their own way. Maggie is friendly and outgoing, but projects her hopes onto others to the point of meddling. Ira recognizes a doomed relationship, so he derails it with cruel frankness. Jessie and Fiona hope to reconcile, but neither is willing to initiate the healing process, and both are too emotionally immature to sustain a successful relationship.
To complicate matters, Ira and Maggie each feel they have given up their dreams for a life of mediocrity. They are unhappy, yet they stay together. On multiple occasions, Maggie tells her husband she will never forgive him; yet she always does.
Through flashbacks to Iran and Maggie's courtship, a reunion of classmates at a funeral, and an attempted reconciliation of a failed marriage, "Breathing Lessons" shines a light on the effects of our changing lives. It shows us reflecting on our decisions and asking "What if..."
Taylor holds a mirror to the well-meaning but self-destructive behavior many of us engage in when we lose direction in our lives.
GCast 208:
Creating UI Tests with Playwright
Use the Playwright testing tool to record, create, and run automated user interface tests in multiple browsers
Episode 885
Windows Recall is a preview feature that automatically captures screen shots of your work. Dan Rey describes the service, how it can help you, and how Microsoft is addressing privacy concerns in the product.
When I think of Najee, I think of his soft melodies playing on smooth jazz radio stations.
Saturday night at Chicago's City Winery, he played the music that made him famous, but he also showed just how funky he can be. Backed by an outstanding band consisting of guitar, bass, keyboard, and drums, he shifted seamlessly between smooth jazz and funk as easily as he switched between soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, and flute. Often, he followed one song immediately with another, giving little time for the sold-out audience to show their appreciation in between. A gentle flute solo led into a funky break, featuring a fantastic solo by bass guitarist Blair Prince Bryant.
The band mixed originals with covers of songs made famous by Freddie Jackson, Anita Baker, and others. The sold-out crowd sang along to his Stevie Wonder medley.
Najee closed his set with "Salvador" from his latest album, which he described as a tribute to Angela Bofill, followed by "Noah's Ark," which he wrote for his young son, who is now thirty years old.
The 68-year-old saxophonist/flautist continues to entertain audiences with his multi-instrument proficiency and his charm. He reached across the footlights to shake hands with and engage the crowd multiple times during the show and hung around afterward to sign autographs and pose for photos.
The music and the man projected joy at this performance.
Neil Gaiman published "Don't Panic: Douglas Adams & The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" in 1988 and I just got around to reading it. As a longtime fan of the writings of both Douglas Adams and Neil Gaiman, this book appealed greatly to me.
I have read nearly everything written by both Adams and Gaiman, and I have returned to his "Hitchhikers" series multiple times.
In this book, Gaiman focuses mostly on Adams's most famous work, "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy," which began as a radio show that Adams later adapted into novel form. He expanded the novel to a trilogy and later to a 5-book series, which he jokingly called an "increasingly inappropriately named trilogy." A TV series, movie, a stage production, and a computer game provided different perespectives on the story of helpless and hapless arthman Arthur Dent who escapes the destruction of his home planet and embarks on a series of misadventures across space and time. Douglas Adams's input varied with each adaptation, as did the success of the final product.
Gaiman conducted extensive interviews with Adams and includes many quotes from the author; but he also includes perspectives from many collaborators.
The wit of Neil Gaiman rivals that of Douglas Adams, and he shows it off in this book's prose. "Don't Panic" is less of a biography than a peek into the writing style of Adams. Although the book focuses on Adams's Hitchhiker stories, we get a peek into some of his other works, including the Dirk Gently series, the Starship Titanic game, and the late humorist's unfinished stories collected in "Salmon of Doubt." I even learned of Adams's contributions to Monty Python and Doctor Who. Gaiman brings the reader into Douglas's creative process, including his infamous tendency to overcommit and miss deadlines.
It was a sad day when the world lost Douglas Adams, but this book helps to keep his memory alive.
Episode 884
Joe Guadagno on Application Insights and Azure Monitor
Joe Guadagno discusses the advantages of collecting telemetry data about your application, the tools available in Azure to do this, and how you can use these tools to improve your application.
1/4
Today I am grateful to face 2026 with optimism.
1/3
Today I am grateful to catch up on sleep yesterday.
1/2
Today I am grateful for lunch with Dan and Charity yesterday.
1/1
Today I am grateful:
- for an amazing few days in Las Vegas
- for the hospitality of Jay and Christina
- to attend New Year's Rockin' Eve last night, featuring Chance the Rapper and Shemekia Copeland
- to celebrate the New Year at the Renaissance with Charity's family last night/this morning
12/31
Today I am grateful for breakfast yesterday with Jay, Christina, Matthew, and Heather.
12/30
Today I am grateful to see "The Wizard of Oz" at the Las Vegas Sphere last night.
12/29
Today I am grateful to see KÀ last night - my first Cirque du Soleil experience!
12/28
Today I am grateful for my first visit to Allegiant Stadium to see the Raiders and Giants battle for last place yesterday.
12/27
Today I am grateful to arrive safely in Las Vegas.
12/26
Today I am grateful for:
- Christmas with my family yesterday
- video calls with my siblings in Sydney and Kaui
12/25
Today I am grateful for a Polish Christmas Eve celebration last night.
12/24
Today I am grateful to achieve Premiere Gold status on United Airlines before the end of the year.
12/23
Today I am grateful for the hospitality and generosity of Joseph and Deidre
12/22
Today I am grateful to attend a fun Cardinals - Falcons game yesterday on my first visit to State Farm Stadium.
12/21
Today I am grateful to play parlor games with Joseph, Deidre, and their friends yesterday.
12/20
Today I am grateful for nachos and margaritas with Joseph last night in Arizona.
12/19
Today I am grateful:
- deliver a presentation at the Chicago Python User Group yesterday
- to attend a Copilot Mingle and CHI Tech Days yesterday
- to host the Gopher Security Startup meetup last night
12/18
Today I am grateful to host many user groups this past month.
12/17
Today I am grateful to see "Christmas with C.S. Lewis" last night at the Broadway Playhouse.
12/16
Today I am grateful to participate in the Mock Interview session with interns graduating from i.c. stars
12/15
Today I am grateful to see an exciting Chiefs - Chargers game yesterday in Kansas City.
12/14
Today I am grateful to attend my building's holiday party last night.
12/13
Today I am grateful:
- to help distribute Christmas gifts to elementary school students in Little Village yesterday
- to see "Elf: The Musical" last night
12/12
Today I am grateful to see Sogol for the first time in years at the AI Collective meetup last night.
12/11
Today I am grateful to attend an Open House at Fitzgerald's Night Club in Berwyn last night.
12/10
Today I am grateful for our best cloud computing user group meeting so far.
12/9
Today I am grateful to host and attend AI Camp last night.
12/8
Today I am grateful to see violinist Damien Escobar in concert last night.
"The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr." is not an accurate title for this book. An author typically writes their autobiography later in life, reflecting on all their experiences. This book is a collection of Dr. King's journals, published writings, notes, and speeches.
These writings provide insights into the history and philosophy of the civil rights icon. He talks of how the revolutionary tactics of Mahatma Gandhi inspired his commitment to peaceful protests. He draws inspiration from the Old and New Testaments, philosophers, and history. He speaks of the need for the courage to act and to speak out against injustice. He tells of the evolution of his attitude toward America's involvement in the Vietnam War, and his influence with the administrations of Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. The reader learns about the evolution of King's thinking - for example, in his eventual opposition to the war in Vietnam. He tells of the protests he helped to organize and lead in Montgomery and Selma. King briefly met Malcolm X, whose violent methods he opposed, but the two did not have time for a meaningful face-to-face dialogue.
Dr. King had every reason to respond with violence to the racism of his day. He was the victim of a near-fatal knife attack, a fire bombing of his house, politically-motivated arrests, and countless threats against himself and his family. He displayed almost infinite patience in his dedication to peaceful protests.
Prophetically, he talks about his own mortality. In one of his most inspired speeches, King tells a crowd in Memphis: "I've been to the mountaintop! I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land!" An assassin took Dr. King's life the following morning.
We will never know if King planned to write such a book because he was assassinated in 1968 at the age of 39. This collection is as close as we will come to that unwritten, unpublished volume. It is worth reading because Dr. King's words still have meaning today - almost six decades after his death!
GCast 207:
Mastering GitHub Copilot course, Using GitHub Copilot with Python, Part 2
Learn how to use GitHub Copilot with a Python application. This video covers sections 3 and 4 of the "Using GitHub Copilot with Python" lesson. It shows how to use GitHub Copilot Chat in Agent mode and how to customize GitHub Copilot with instruction files
Episode 883
Bernadette Atanga on The Cost of Emotional Suppression in Tech Leadership
Dr. Bernadette Atanga discusses emotional suppression and its cost, especially among men in the IT industry. She identifies the causes, symptoms, costs, and solutions to this issue.
Links:
https://www.amazon.com/BENEATH-ARMOR-Practical-Strategies-Vulnerability/dp/B0F1NYP2HH/
https://atangamd.com/
After all these years, I finally attended a Cirque du Soleil performance. Saturday evening, we saw Kà at the MGM Grand Theater.
Kà tells the story of twins separated and driven from their homeland after an attack by a group of archer warriors, and the battles and other conflicts they must overcome to reunite.
The music was great, as were the acrobats, the dancers, and the acrobatic dancers. The impressive costumes included attire from a variety of cultures, as well as a giant crab, turtle, centipede, and starfish. Puppeteers worked giant birds that flew across the audience.
But the sets were the real stars of this show. Giant platforms rose, sank, and tilted to provide the audience with a unique perspective of the action and intensify the sense of danger. These platforms, along with curtains and lights, became boats, glaciers, and oceans. Fire shooting from a seemingly bottomless pit below frequently threatened the protagonists.
And there was plenty of action! Warriors attacked our hero at each turn, and the dancing conveyed a sense of danger as fighters fought above and fell into a seemingly bottomless pit.
It isn't easy to point to a single highlight in this impressive show, but athletes running inside and outside, rotating cylinders whipped around by cantilevers while jumping rope, stand out for me.
It is hard to imagine this spectacle working outside the MGM theater that was built specifically for this show two decades ago. Characters ran along catwalks along the sides and swung out over the audience. Some of them began these acrobatics fifteen minutes before the show started.
Although the plot of Kà can be challenging to follow without knowing the story in advance, the visual spectacle more than makes up for this shortcoming.
Episode 882
Ankita Guha Biegas on Neural Networks and PyTorch
Ankita Guha Biegas discusses Neural Networks - what they are, how they work, when to use them, and how to use PyTorch to use them effectively.
Links:
https://github.com/ankitaguhaoakland/Google-Michigan-Dev-Fest-2025/
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1was3sJSSzDHrmhcbv2k-T6y_H-sVFqOw/view
British playwright David Payne wrote and starred in "Christmas with C.S. Lewis." In it, Payne portrayed the famous author in a one-man show, which takes place entirely in Lewis's living room during the holiday season.
Payne's son Daniel has now taken over the starring role in this play, which opened Tuesday evening at Chicago's Broadway Playhouse.
Although billed as a on-man show, Payne involves the audience, addressing his questions directly to the crowd and responding to their reactions. He fills the room with stories of his close friend J.R.R. Tolkien, with whom he often discussed and debated religion, and of his wife Joy, an American expatriate who married Lewis to remain in England. Although their marriage was one of convenience (Lewis was a confirmed bachelor in his 50s at the time), they eventually found love and passion, fueled by Joy's cancer diagnosis.
Payne fills the production with humorous stories and poignant moments. He talks of his religious conversion and acceptance of the divinity of Jesus. He talks of the unexpected death of his mother and the coldness of his father. And he talks of his evolving relationship with Joy.
It felt like a pleasant evening with a close friend.
GCast 206:
Mastering GitHub Copilot course, Using GitHub Copilot with Python, Part 1
Learn how to use GitHub Copilot with a Python application. This video covers sections 1 and 2 of the "Using GitHub Copilot with Python" lesson. It shows how to use GitHub Copilot Chat in Ask mode and how to use inline chat.
Links:
https://github.com/microsoft/Mastering-GitHub-Copilot-for-Paired-Programming/
https://github.com/microsoft/Mastering-GitHub-Copilot-for-Paired-Programming/tree/main/Using-GitHub-Copilot-with-Python
I was asked not to tell this story.
Before I begin, I want you to know two things about this story:
I know that second point sounds strange after you read the first point, but stay with me.
Bill Fink and I worked together for years. We were both Technical Evangelists at Microsoft. Bill was ideally suited for this job because he loved playing with gadgets, learning how to do cool things with new technology, and sharing that knowledge with others.
He and I worked together many times, and we became close. We discovered that we had both previously worked for the same small consulting company a few years earlier.
In the summer of 2015, Bill was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer is notoriously aggressive and difficult to detect, which contributes to the low survival rate among those diagnosed. Bill was not diagnosed early. He immediately took a leave of absence from his job.
Our teammates lived in every part of the country, while Bill lived in Bellville, IL, outside St. Louis, MO. Even though I lived 300 miles away in Chicago, I was his closest teammate. So I drove down to visit him every few weeks. His energy was low, and he couldn't talk for long, but I think he appreciated someone coming to see him. After each visit, I sent an email to the rest of the team to let them know how Bill was doing and to keep him in their thoughts.
One day, our friend Jason approached me with an idea. He had been working with the team that makes the Microsoft HoloLens. This augmented reality device projects holograms into the wearer's eyes, interacting with the real world and elements of a virtual world. This device was not yet available for sale. But Jason's contacts on the product team had access to a prototype, which they were willing to bring to Bellville. Bill loved playing with new technology, and this tech wasn't even at the "new" stage yet.
Jason asked me to help because he knew I had kept regular contact with Bill.
So we set our plan in motion.
When I told our team what we were doing, my manager gathered a gift box for Bill. It included shirts, jackets, hats, towels, and other items, branded with our team's logo.
Jason flew from his home in Texas to Chicago, where I live, and where our local Evangelism team was hosting a public event. After the event, Jason and I drove down to St. Louis and checked into a hotel. The next morning, we met two members of the HoloLens product team. After breakfast, the four of us drove to Bill's house. His wife knew we were coming, but Bill did not. Jason and I knocked on the door and told Bill we were in the neighborhood and decided to drop by. He invited us in. I sat down and opened the gift box, handing each item to Bill, one at a time. When the box was empty, I turned it over and shook it, saying, "I could have sworn we had something else... Oh yeah! I remember!" At this point, I opened the front door and called to the men from the product group to come in.
For the next two hours, they demonstrated the HoloLens, showed off unreleased software, and let each of us try it out. Bill went through each program. Bill enjoyed it so much that he called his son and told him to drive over, so he could enjoy it.
Most of the time, when I visited Bill, I could only stay 30-45 minutes. He would be too exhausted to host a visitor after that. On this trip, we stayed at his house for well over two hours. He was far more energized than I had seen him since his illness began.
Driving back to Chicago, Jason and I were elated. Jason had planned the perfect gift for Bill, and he had allowed me to be a part of it.
I only saw Bill once more after this. He passed away ten years ago yesterday.
But the story does not end there. A few weeks later, I received a call from an assistant to a Microsoft Executive Vice President. The EVP had heard about our story and wanted to share it with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella during a Senior Leadership meeting scheduled for later that day. She asked if I had any photos to share. I did, and I sent them to her, and Satya heard Bill's story. She asked me not to share this story, fearing it would come across as a publicity stunt. But I think enough time has passed, and Bill’s story deserves to be told.
I will always be grateful to Jason for including me in his idea. I will be forever thankful to Bill for helping me appreciate life. These are the reasons I do not consider this a sad story, despite the death of my friend.
I have worked for Microsoft for over twelve years, and this remains the best thing I have done during that time.
Episode 881
Tim Moore is the founder and CEO of AI company Clixie.ai, and advises angel investors, giving him a unique perspective on the startup world. He talks about how startup founders can use AI to enhance their business, some of the challenges inherent in implementing this technology, and industry trends.
Links:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/black-tech-saturdays/posts/
https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/start-in-michigan-7255177976583974912/
https://www.start-midwest.com/
It is difficult for me to define why I enjoyed "Elf: The Musical" so much on Friday evening at Chicago's Auditorium Theatre. The music was good but not out of the ordinary for a Broadway musical, and the story was a simplified version of the Will Ferrell movie "Elf." But it resonated with those of us who enjoyed the film, and the music enhanced the libretto with some fun interludes.
For those few unfamiliar with this story, Buddy lives at the North Pole, raised by Santa and his elves. Despite towering over the elves, he has no clue that he was born a human. When Santa reveals his origins, he travels to New York in search of his birth father, who turns out to be a grumpy businessman with no interest in Santa or a new son.
The producers included some creative elements. The opening scene featured elves dancing and singing. Most shows opt for two ways to portray pint-sized characters: Hire child actors or hire little adults. This show chose to have full-size adults walk on their knees, wearing black cloaks and false legs that hid the lower half of their bodies. The result was superb, as the legs bounced and swung in time to their dancing and walking. It was a clever form of puppetry, and it worked!
The show used minimal physical sets against animated video backgrounds. This technique created a sensation of movement as the characters ran through Manhattan or floated on an iceberg from the North Pole. I have not seen this done before, and it impressed me.
But the characters were the show's biggest strength. Jack Ducat as the simple-minded, good-hearted Buddy played his character with the over-the-top enthusiasm one would expect. Jeff Brooks as Buddy's father was great, as Buddy's stoic, business-obsessed father was perfect in the role originated by James Caan. Even Andrew Hendrick as Santa was great in his brief performance, choosing a more cheerful demeanor than the grumpy Ed Asner from the film. None matched the level of their on-screen counterparts, but they were not far behind.
The only downside of the evening was the couple behind me who thought it was acceptable to have a loud conversation during the second act. I expected some noise from an audience that included many children, but I was surprised to see adults when I turned around and asked them to shush.
But this did not spoil a delightful evening that cannot help but put one into the Christmas spirit.
And the main reason I enjoyed this musical was that it was so much fun!
"I grew up in The Bronx," announced Damien Escobar to the City Winery crowd Sunday evening. "And this ain't normal," he quipped, pointing to his violin.
Damien was an anomaly. His single mother raised him in the tough Jamaica neighborhood. But he escaped the streets, discovered a passion for music, and honed his craft at Juilliard.
Backed by driving drums and complex keyboards, Escobar led the trio while entertaining the crowd with instrumental songs on his electric violin for two hours in the evening's first set.
Although the first half of the show featured many of the performer's original compositions, he drew cheers of recognition when playing the music of others in the second half. It began with The Whispers' "Rock Steady," followed by Anita Baker's "Rapture" and "What You Won't Do for Love" by the late Bobby Caldwell. The crowd erupted on the opening notes of Prince's "Purple Rain."
Repeatedly, Damien expressed his appreciation to the crowd. At one point, he poured himself a glass of wine from the Winery and toasted the audience for several minutes.
Damien Escobar has mastered the violin and applied that skill to jazz-rock fusion. Even among jazz musicians, he is an anomaly.
Episode 880
Michele Leroux Bustamante on Cloud Security at Scale
Michele Leroux Bustamante discusses how to design and build secure applications for massive consumer consumption.
12/7
Today I am grateful to attend a basketball game at the University of Chicago yesterday with my family.
12/6
Today I am grateful for my new Kindle Paperwhite.
12/5
Today I am grateful to attend the local company potluck yesterday.
12/4
Today I am grateful for nights I can fall asleep quickly.
12/3
Today I am grateful for a long weekend in Charlotte, NC
12/2
Today I am grateful for lunch with Emiel yesterday in Charlotte.
12/1
Today I am grateful for my first visit to Bank of America Stadium to see a Panthers - Rams game yesterday.
11/30
Today I am grateful for:
- lunch with Richard and Shondrecca
- a visit to the NASCAR Hall of Fame
- an exciting overtime Hornets-Raptors game on my first visit to the Spectrum Center
11/29
Today I am grateful to play card games with friends last night.
11/28
Today I am grateful for Thanksgiving dinner with friends yesterday.
11/27
Today I am grateful for a long holiday weekend
11/26
Today I am grateful for a good working relationship with my teammates and managers.
11/25
Today I am grateful to attend a cabaret last night performed by the cast of "A Beautiful Noise"
11/24
Today I am grateful to see Cyrus Chestnut in concert last night
11/23
Today I am grateful to attend two of my son's Kalamazoo College basketball games this weekend, including an exciting overtime victory yesterday!
11/22
Today I am grateful to speak at the Michigan DevFest for the first time.
11/21
Today I am grateful to see the musical "A Beautiful Noise" last night.
11/20
Today I am grateful:
- for dinner last night with Beth and Pete.
- to talk with Gaines this morning for the first time in a long time
11/19
Today I am grateful to see Patti Smith in concert last night.
11/18
Today I am grateful to host a student hackathon yesterday
11/17
Today I am grateful for a weekend in Kalamazoo visiting my son.
11/16
Today I am grateful to see a Western Michigan - Miami University hockey game last night on my first visit to Lawson Arena.
11/15
Today I am grateful to see Keyon Harrold in concert last night
11/13
Today I am grateful:
- to attend an exciting overtime Blackhawks-Devils ice hockey game in a United Center suite last night
- to speak about GitHub Copilot to students at the Illinois Institute of Technology yesterday
11/12
Today I am grateful to learn a lot about automated UI tests this week.
11/11
Today I am grateful for my new mop.
11/10
Today I am grateful to see Jeff Daniels in concert last night.
11/9
Today I am grateful:
- for breakfast yesterday with Trinh
- to see Margaret Atwood speak in Lincoln Park yesterday
11/8
Today I am grateful to see Josh Ritter in concert last night.
11/6
Today I am grateful to deliver 3 presentations to 3 different audiences yesterday.
11/5
Today I am grateful to serve as Master of Ceremonies for the Fabric Fast Technical track this morning.
11/4
Today I am grateful to learn how to use some new features in Adobe Premiere Pro.
11/3
Today I am grateful to see Everclear in concert last night, along with Sponge and Local H.
Erin Morgenstern's novel "The Night Circus" takes the reader backward and forward in time as it weaves a complex tale. The author frames her story with chapters at the beginning and ending of the book, told in the second person and the present tense. These chapters describe the reader's encounter with a circus that appears without warning or advertising, opening after sunset and closing before dawn.
Between these bookends, she tells two stories. One involves Bailey, a farm boy in 1902 Massachusetts. On a dare, Bailey sneaks into the circus during the daylight hours, where he meets and befriends a young girl and her twin brother.
The other story begins decades earlier. Rival magicians engage in a contest pitting their young proteges against each other. Hector Bowen (Prospero the Enchanter) pits his daughter Celia against Marco, an orphan adopted and mentored by Mr. A.H. (The Man in the Grey Suit). The elder magicians manipulate their young apprentices into a rivalry over which the youngsters lack control and understanding. The two young proteges join Le Cirque des Rêves, a mysterious circus, in which the workers never age, and true magicians disguise their craft as sleight of hand. The circus moves across Europe, developing a devoted group of followers who call themselves the "Rêveurs."
The earlier story jumps ahead in time with each chapter, as the young wizards grow up, attempting to learn their destiny. Eventually, the circus moves across the Atlantic to Concord, MA, and collides with the Bailey story.
I like the way that Morgenstern bounced between the two timelines, merging perfectly. Minor characters became major characters. Rivalries became romances. Mysteries unraveled layer by layer. The plot unfolds slowly, but she has a talent for building sympathetic heroes and callous villains. She favors character development and scene exposition over action. The primary character of this book is the circus, which exerts its power upon all who work in it or enter it. Her descriptions of the magic and illusion display the author's imagination.
"The Night Circus" is an enchanting story with an intriguing ensemble cast. After reading it, I count myself among the Rêveurs.
GCast 205:
Mastering GitHub Copilot course, Integrating MCP with Copilot
In this video, I walk through the excellent tutorial "Integrate MCP with GitHub Copilot." In this lesson, you learn to use GitHub Copilot to interact with an MCP server, extending the AI functionality of Copilot.
Links:
https://github.com/microsoft/Mastering-GitHub-Copilot-for-Paired-Programming/
https://github.com/microsoft/Mastering-GitHub-Copilot-for-Paired-Programming/
Episode 879
Carlos Reblos on Developer Tools for SQL Server
Carlos Robles is a Product Manager for Microsoft Database Developer Tools.
He talks about Visual Studio Code extensions, using GitHub Copilot with SQL Server, SQL containers, integration with Microsoft Fabric, upcoming features, and the retirement of Azure Data Studio.
Almost every generation of the Howland family of Alabama had a male named "William." In the mid twentieth century, the current William Howland secretly married his black housekeeper Margaret, at a time when interracial marriage was illegal. When their children grew up, Margaret sent them away to avoid the racism of the Deep South.
The incident came to the fore years after William and Margaret died. William's granddaughter, Abigail, married an ambitious politician whose speeches often aligned with the Ku Klux Klan. One of Margaret's children leaked the news of mixed blood in Abigail's family, destroying her husband's chances at the governorship and setting the townspeople against Margaret's family.
Shirley Ann Grau's 1964 novel "The Keepers of the House" shines a light on the explicit racism prevalent in the Deep South.
Grau tells a story about human struggles, race relations, honor, and revenge. She examines the roles of women and blacks in a society that hinders them with mores and laws. William accepts his relationship with Margaret, but knows that those around him will not, so he keeps their marriage a secret. Ultimately, Abigail pays the price two generations later. It matters not that the Howland family is among the most prominent in the state. Their secret is enough to enrage the community and incite them to judgment and violence.
Although Grau's characters lack depth, she unfolds her story well. It builds slowly, revealing the history of the Howland family and Abigail's young adulthood, but it accelerates at the end as the family secret is revealed.
The novel caused controversy in 1964. Many in the South did not like to be reminded of the existence of institutional racism. But it won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction the following year.
In 1992, Robert Olen Butler published "A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain" - a collection of sixteen short stories and one novella. Each story tells of a different person or family from Vietnam.
The collection includes the following tales:
- An encounter with a demonic ghost who saves people only to devour them later.
Although there is no continuity between the stories, they share some common threads. All but one story is told from the point of view of a native Vietnamese (an American living in Vietnam narrates the final story); and most of the characters have immigrated from Vietnam to Louisiana, where they attempt to assimilate into American society while retaining some of their Vietnamese identity and customs.
Butler does a good job contrasting Eastern and Western cultures, as well as the struggles immigrants face in navigating those differences.
Episode 878
Jennifer Wadella on The 7 Deadly Sins of Management
Jennifer Wadella has learned that there is no universal advice for managers to apply in every organization and in every situation. But she has found some things that managers should always avoid doing. She shares her seven deadly sins of management.
"A Beautiful Noise" has been touring for eighteen months, including a stop in Chicago last year. This month, the troupe returned to the Windy City to recreate the Neil Diamond musical biopic in front of a sold-out Cadillac Palace Theater. I caught the Thursday evening performance.
The story begins in the office of a psychologist, where the doctor opens a book of Neil's song lyrics and an aging Neil tells the story of his life through those songs. Diamond is on his third marriage, and his performing days are behind him - a difficult situation for one who has always defined his identity through his music.
We flash back to a young Neil pitching his songs to a publisher, who soon decides that the young songwriter is a better interpreter of his own music than The Monkees, Lulu, or Deep Purple. The young Brooklyn-born Neil is uncomfortable in the spotlight, but loves performing. He falls in love with Marcia, leaves his wife and daughters, signs a recording contract with a mob-controlled record company, and his career skyrockets. As Act 1 closes, Diamond delivers a final hit song ("Sweet Caroline") and the mob releases him from his contract.
Act 2 opens years later. Neil's hair is longer; he performs every night in front of tens of thousands of people, and he has embraced his fortune and fame, touring almost constantly in front of adoring fans. The constant travel strains his second marriage, which ends with the couple singing "You don't bring me flowers" to one another.
"A Beautiful Noise" is about balancing fame and work obsession with personal relationships. Neil Diamond struggled to balance the public and private aspects of his life, which cost him two marriages. Robert Westenberg and Nick Fradiani are brilliant as old and young Neil, respectively. Their duet at the end is moving, signifying the man's self-acceptance of all that he was and became. Of course, the music was great, and Anthony McCarten's story ties the songs together into an emotional tale.
After taking their bows, the cast returned to the stage to promote a charity auction and to sing "Sweet Caroline" again - this time with the help of the audience. It was an excellent finish to an excellent show.
Patti Smith was there at the beginning of the punk rock movement. She was a frequent booking at the famed New York punk club CBGB, and she released high-energy albums in the same era as The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, and Iggy Pop. She share the rebellious nature of those punk bands, but her intelligent lyrics and more complex arrangements set her music apart from the frantic three-chord formula used by many of her contemporaries.
She established a reputation as a punk poet with the 1975 release of her debut album "Horses."
Fifty years later, Smith is touring to celebrate the anniversary of that landmark album. This week, the Chicago native brought the tour home with two performances at the Chicago Theatre. I caught the second night show on Wednesday.
Ms. Smith began the show by playing each track on the album in order. She prefaced each song with a brief story about its origin. She based "Break It Up" on a dream about Jim Morrison breaking free from within a statue. A conversation with Jimi Hendrix shortly before his death inspired her to write "Elegie."
At the conclusion of the album, Smith stepped off stage, allowing her band to perform a medley of songs by Tom Verlaine's Television, which they described as their "sister band."
Smith returned to the stage to sing, dance, shout, and spit for the remainder of the set, concluding with "Because the Night," her biggest commercial hit. She told the story of receiving the music from Bruce Springsteen and setting it aside until one night when she wrote the lyrics while awaiting a call from Fred "Sonic" Smith, with whom she was involved in a long-distance relationship.
Smith's band was excellent with Tony Shanahan on keyboard and bass guitar, JD Dorety on drums, Lenny Kay on guitar, and Jackson Smith on guitar and bass. Jackson is the son of Patti and Fred, and he was joined on stage by his sister, Jesse Paris Smith, who played keyboards during the encore. The encore began with "Ghost Dance," a tribute to Native Americans, followed by the anthem "People Have the Power," which inspired the crowd to sing along.
Patti Smith remained on stage long after the music stopped, taking photos, hugging her band and her children, and shaking hands with the audience. It was clear she did not want this homecoming to end.
GCast 204:
Mastering GitHub Copilot course, Using GitHub Copilot with JavaScript
In this video, I walk through the excellent tutorial "Using GitHub Copilot with JavaScript." In this lesson, you learn to use GitHub Copilot to create and modify JavaScript, as well as how to add custom instructions for GitHub Copilot.
Links:
https://github.com/microsoft/Mastering-GitHub-Copilot-for-Paired-Programming/
https://github.com/microsoft/Mastering-GitHub-Copilot-for-Paired-Programming/tree/main/Using-GitHub-Copilot-with-JavaScript
Episode 877
Jimmy Bogard on Monetizing Open Source Software
Jimmy Bogard created and maintains the popular open source projects, Automapper and Mediatr. Recently, he decided to build a business around these tools - charging some users for the tools and keeping it free for others. He talks about the challenges encountered in monetizing an open source project.