The Goodman Theatre's production of August Wilson's "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" highlights a single day in the recording studio, giving us a glimpse into the lives of all those involved.

Blues singer Ma Rainey (played by E. Faye Butler) is a prima donna, often throwing tantrums until her demands are met. Her agent, Irv, and studio executive Sturdyvant placate her because they both know she generates more profit for the studio than all their other artists combined.

Conflicts arise within Ma's band as they await the tardy lead singer. Young Levee clashes with his older bandmates due to his inflated ego and differing musical tastes. Al'Jaleel McGhee steals the show as Levee, taking us through his range of emotions.

The show reveals how different people resolve conflict in different ways. Ma, the diva bullies her employers; Irv plays peacemaker, conceding nearly every demand; and Levee lashes out in anger.

Rather than changing sets, Linda Buchanan chose to segment the stage into different rooms and use lighting to highlight the area where the action took place. This kept the pace moving throughout the two-and-a-half-hour performance.

As with all of Wilson's plays, this one deals with race. Ma knows her white patrons would dismiss her based on her skin color if they were not making money from her voice. Levee and the band members distrust their white employees but must work within a racist system, stacked against them.

Director Chuck Smith brought raw emotion and music to this revival.

GCast 214:

Using M365 Copilot to Edit a PowerPoint Image

M365 Copilot has a new feature that allows you to edit an image directly within your PowerPoint presentation. You no longer need to bring it into an external image editing tool.

Episode 897

Ken Versaw on How to Manage AI-First Software Development Teams

Ken Versaw discusses how Artificial Intelligence has changed the way that his team operates, he now manages his team, and the challenges AI brings.

Episode 896

Chris Woodruff and Joe Guadagno on morespeakers.com

Chris Woodruff and Joe Guadagno are experienced speakers who would like to help new speakers. They created morespeakers.com allowing new speakers to connect with experienced once and schedule mentoring sessions. They talk about their motivations for creating this service, the technology and challenges that went into creating it, and how to use the service.

Links:
https://morespeakers.com
https://github.com/cwoodruff/morespeakers-com
https://aspnet-htmx.com/
https://www.josephguadagno.net/2026/01/30/the-technology-behind-morespeakers-com

Henrietta Lacks was 31 years old when she died of cervical cancer. Before her death, doctors at Johns Hopkins University scraped a few of her cancerous cells for future study. To their surprise, these cells outlived Ms. Lacks by decades and reproduced almost without limit. Scientists studied these cells, leading to numerous scientific breakthroughs. This all sounds wonderful until you learn that Henrietta gave no consent and had no knowledge of the use of her cells. Further, the market for these cells grew into a multi-billion-dollar business, while the Lacks family received no compensation and struggled to afford their own medical care.

Rebecca Skloot's 2010 book, "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks," tells Henrietta's story. But it also tells more. Woven within the Lacks biography is a discussion of the evolution of legal and ethical standards around consent and the use of human body parts, the scientific advances resulting from the study of these cells, the effect on the Lacks family of the cells' success, and Skloot's attempts to pull this story from a family that had grown to distrust the establishment and a white reporter.

Skloot's book raises several ethical and legal questions. What rights do scientists have to use byproducts of medical treatment, including parts of a patient's body? What privacy and monetary rights do the patients have in these situations? Most doctors, scientists, and legal scholars did not even consider these questions in 1951. Surprisingly, some questions are still unresolved more than half a century later.

Do scientific advancements justify unethical practices to attain them? History is full of examples of this. Nazis performing medical experiments on Jews in concentration camps; Army doctors conducting syphilis experiments on black men in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

"The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" is part biography, part investigative reporting story, and part human tragedy. I was unfamiliar with this part of history before picking up this book. I am glad I did.

GCast 213:

Creating a Video Using M365 Copilot

M365 Copilot has the ability to generate videos using AI. I show you different ways to generate a video: from a PowerPoint presentation; from a Word document; and from a prompt.

Keynote

Sponsors and Partners

Workshops

Lightning Talk

Microsoft Booth

Final Thoughts

Photos

You can view more photos of the event here.

Episode 895

Sarang Brahme on Industrial Scale Agentic AI in Hospitality and Restaurant Analytics

Sarang Brahme of Long View describes an application his team created to track real-time analytics of restaurant reviews. Their customers can use this application to predict upcoming demand. He talks about the technology involved, challenges to overcome, and how they created a scalable application with secure data isolation.

Links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sbrahme/
mailto:Sarang.Brahme@lvs1.com

"The Reivers" was a departure for William Faulkner. Published in 1962, it was the last novel he wrote before his death.

Faulkner made a name for himself with a writing style that features stream-of-consciousness outpourings, complex sentence structures, and narratives that jump back and forth in time – a style that often made his works difficult to read. "The Reivers" contains none of these features. It is a straightforward, linear coming-of-age story, told in the first person.

Lucius Priest is eleven years old at the time of the story, which is presumably told years later by an adult Lucius. While the boy's family is out of town for a funeral, he travels from Mississippi to Memphis with his family's employees, Boon Hogganbeck and Ned McCaslin, in a car they "borrowed" from Lucius's grandfather. Boon initiates the journey to visit his girlfriend, a Memphis prostitute. Along the way, the trio trades the car for a horse, enters the horse in a race, and attempts to win enough money to buy back the car. Along the way, they repeatedly get themselves into and out of trouble, including several run-ins with the law, before returning home.

The experience changes Lucius, who learns about responsibility, consequences, and the relations between blacks and whites in the early twentieth-century American South.

Although "The Reivers" is an easier read than most of Faulkner's novels, it is still a thought-provoking story, told with humor and sentiment.

I had forgotten much of Junot Diaz's 2007 novel "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" from when I read it a few years ago. So, when I heard that Chicago's Goodman Theatre planned a stage adaptation of Diaz's book, I re-read the story. I was surprised at how much I had forgotten from this complex tale of generations of Dominican-Americans surviving a brutal dictatorship and immigration to New Jersey.

The book and play tell the titular Oscar's coming-of-age story. He is obese, awkward, unpopular, and obsessed with nerd culture, including science fiction, fantasy, comic books, anime, and video games.

In the play, as in the book, Oscar believes that his family is afflicted with the fuku curse, for which he blames everything from his mother's cancer to his failures with women.

Marco Antonio Rodriguez's theatrical adaptation simplifies the written story by removing many of the subplots. Gone are the tales of Oscar's childhood, the flashback to the origins of the family curse, the aside told by Oscar's sister, Lola, and most of the brutality of Rafael Leónidas Trujillo Molina, the dictator who terrorized the Dominican Republic for decades. The latter is mentioned only briefly in a flashback that explains why Oscar and Lola's mother, Beli, hates her country of origin. The story covers Oscar's college years, beginning at Rutgers and including time off to visit his Dominican homeland and confront the family curse.

Director Wendy Mateo chose a minimalist set, designed by Regina Garcia, to imply each location without recreating it. Set hands dressed in the same costume as Oscar placed and removed tables and beds to indicate a change of location. The video projected behind the stage served more to set the mood than to enhance the scenery. Flames engulfed the wall whenever the characters acknowledged or confronted Fuku directly.

An all-Latinx cast complemented one another well. Lenin D'Anthony Izquierdo was less pathetic and more optimistic than his literary counterpart; Julissa Calderon projected righteous anger as Lola, and Kelvin Grullon displayed impressive subtlety as Oscar's roommate, Yunior. Two actors who played minor characters stood out to me: Jalbelly Guzmán, who played the two women with whom Oscar fell in love, and Arik Vega, who played all the show's villains. Both actors gave their all to present over-the-top characters.

The Goodman Theatre is the first to present this play in English. It ran in Spanish in other cities as "La Breve y Maravillosa Vida de Oscar Wao." The script retains many of the lapses into Spanish that Diaz included in his novel. My remedial Spanish was insufficient to catch every joke that made others laugh. But I was never at a loss to know what was happening. Some may think the nearly three-hour running time is excessive. It is not. The story and characters held me throughout.

Episode 894

Brian McKeiver on Improving Developer Workflow with AI

Brian McKeiver discusses how he uses agents, MCP Servers and other AI tools to accelerate this team's development process. He describes the setup that goes into making this work effectively and the limitations of AI.

GCast 212:

Scheduling a Microsoft Copilot Prompt [GCast 212]

Create a prompt in Microsoft Copilot and tell Copilot to respond to that prompt on a regular schedule. You can even ask Copilot to send an email when the response is ready.

Episode 893

Fidel Guzman on Emotional Intelligence, Tactical Empathy, and Storytelling

Fidel Guzman believes that emotional intelligence and communication are keys to a successful career and a successful life. He discusses the importance of empathy and communication, and the cost of failing to achieve these attributes. "Facts tell; stories sell," he says when reminding us of the importance of effective storytelling. He concludes with solutions - ways to address weaknesses in these areas.

Links:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/fidel-guzman-mba-519973115/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/h-e-r-o-consulting-group-llc/
https://www.youtube.com/@The_Hero_In_The_Mirror1101

Alison Lurie's 1984 novel, "Foreign Affairs," follows Americans traveling to London in an attempt to reset their lives. The book focuses primarily on two academics, Vinnie Miner and Fred Turner, who are conducting research for their books.

Vinnie Miner is 54 years old and plain-looking. She has assimilated into England and now considers herself at least partly English. A negative review of her work published in The Atlantic magazine haunts her.

Fred Turner is young, handsome, and recovering from a painful divorce.

Vinnie begins an affair with loud, unsophisticated Oklahoman Chuck Mumpson. Fred falls in love with the melodramatic English actress Lady Rosemary Radley, who introduces him to the elite London bohemian crowd, but becomes irate when she learns that he must return to the US to teach the following semester. Presumably, these are affairs of the book's title.

Lurie focuses her story on human nature. Assumptions and expectations hinder communication, and the cultural differences make this even more difficult. But her characters evolve throughout the story. Vinnie arrives in England as an uptight Anglophile, prepared to embrace her adopted home. Fred is running away from his past until he becomes obsessed with Rosemary. By the end, each has come to appreciate their home and discover themselves and what is important to them.

On my four visits to London, I have found the city to be culturally similar enough to be manageable, but different enough to feel exotic. I imagine every American experiences the city differently. Lurie captures these differences and experiences through her characters' conversations. 

George Bernard Shaw famously observed, "England and America are two countries separated by the same language!" Alison provides evidence of this truth.

In 1955, 14-year-old black youth Emmitt Till traveled from his Chicago home to visit relatives in Money, Mississippi. One day, a rumor spread throughout the town that Emmitt had flirted with a white woman. A few days later, the boy was beaten and murdered. The killers dumped his body into a river, where it was discovered days later. Police arrested Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam, who abducted Till the night he died. They were tried and acquitted of the murder, but later admitted to the crime.

G. Riley Mills and Willie Round adapted this trial into the play "Trial in the Delta," which is now running at the Collaboraction Theater at Chicago's Kimball Arts Center. Much of the dialogue in the play came directly from transcripts of the 1955 trial - transcripts that remained hidden for decades. But this show goes beyond the dialogue. The actors' actions often brought the characters to life, from the smirking defendants to the clerk who glared at black witnesses when swearing them in on a battered Bible.

For the Saturday matinee performance, I purchased seats in the jury box, which gave me a close-up perspective on the action. Witnesses and lawyers addressed the twelve of us directly multiple times during the show.

I was moved by NK Gutierrez's interpretation of Emmett's mother, Mamie - especially the speech she gave following the verdict, in which she credited her son with starting the Civil Rights Movement.

After the play, the audience remained in their seats, while co-author Round led them in a discussion of what they had seen. We heard perspectives on the performance and on racial violence in the past and the present.

Those who know history know that the all-white jury acquitted the defendants. But this play shows the racism inherent in the justice system, in the witnesses, and in the culture of the time and region in which it took place. " Trial in the Delta" is a moving experience that immerses its audience in a time of turmoil.

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.

More Photos!

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

Rachel Appel on Dark Patterns

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.

Daily Itinerary

Sunday, February 1

• Arrived in Honolulu

Monday, February 2

• Pearl Harbor and USS Arizona
• Dole Plantation:
  • Plant maze. Underwhelming.
  • Train ride. Kids on the train made it too loud to hear the tour guide, but the scenery was nice.
  • Botanical Garden. Beautiful plants and landscaping

Tuesday, February 3

• Diamond Head. Parked in the crater and climbed to the top
• Five for Fighting concert at the Hawaiian Blue Note

Wednesday, February 4

• Flew to the Big Island
• Walk around Kailua-Kona
• Watched the sun set over the ocean
• Relaxed with coffee, dinner, drinks
• Snorkeling with Manta Rays canceled due to rough seas

Thursday, February 5

• Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park
• The Rainbow Falls
• Kaumana Caves. Very dark. Went a short distance inside
• Drove around Hilo
• Carlsmith Beach

Friday, February 6

• Pu'uhonua o Hōnaunau National Historic Park
• Drove down the coast
• Snorkeling with manta rays

Saturday, February 7

• Flew to Maui

Sunday, February 8

• Whale watching cruise canceled due to weather
• Nakalele Blowhole
• Watched the Super Bowl

Monday, February 9

• Flew to Kauai
• Mai tais and nachos with Debbie at a local hotel

Tuesday, February 10

• Drove along the southern coast of Kauai
• Spouting horn, a set of blowholes on the ocean
• Tunnel of trees
• Grilled steaks by the pool

Wednesday, February 11

• Drove around the northern coast of Kauai
  • Stops at multiple beaches, including:
    • Tunnels Beach, named for a tunnel-like cave across the road
    • Waimea Bay
    • Hanalei Bay

Thursday, February 12

• Worked remotely in the morning
• Sea turtles and seals at the beach

Friday, February 13

• Worked remotely in the morning
• Helicopter ride around Kauai and into Waimea Canyon
• Visited waterfalls

Saturday, February 14

• Drove to the west of the island and along the rim of Waimea Canyon
• Flew home

Photos

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.

Family

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.

Atomic Habits

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.

Sportsball

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:

MLB

I attended home games of the following MLB teams in 2025.

• Athletics (playing in a Minor League Park in Sacramento, CA)
• Miami Marlins
• Tampa Bay Rays (playing in a Minor League Park in Tampa, FL)

NFL

I attended home games of the following NFL teams in 2025.

• Arizona Cardinals
• Carolina Panthers
• Jacksonville Jaguars
• Kansas City Chiefs
• Las Vegas Raiders
• Miami Dolphins
• New Orleans Saints

NHL

I attended home games of the following NHL teams in 2025.

• Chicago Black Hawks
• Detroit Red Wings

NBA

I attended home games of the following NBA teams in 2025.

• Sacramento Kings
• Golden State Warriors
• Charlotte Hornets
• New Orleans Pelicans

Other sports

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.

Public Speaking

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.

Travel

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.

• London, Madrid, and Barcelona
• Sacramento, and San Francisco. Visited cousins John and Becky
• Istanbul, Athens, and Chios, Greece, with the Avgoustises
• New York City
• Miami, Tampa, Sarasota, and Bradenton
• Orlando and Jacksonville
• Charlotte, NC
• Phoenix, AZ, to visit the Guadagnos
• Las Vegas, NV, to visit the Harrises and Renzes
• Kansas City (twice)
• New Orleans

The Arts

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

Concerts

I attended 41 Concerts in 2025 - an impressive number, even for me.

Theater

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.

Lectures

The Chicago Humanities Festival brings an interesting series of lectures to the Windy City. I joined the organization and attended several lectures in 2025.

My Job

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.

Volunteering

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.

Reading

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

Online

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."

Health

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.

Other Stuff

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."

Looking Ahead

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

Dan Rey on Windows Recall

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:

1. It is about my friend Bill, who died
2. It is not a sad 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.

Photos