Back to blogging / Flickr pictures / Recent trips / New job

Back to blogging

Once again there was quite a lapse in my personal blog, and here I am again listing what I did over the last year or so. This time I have a really good reason: I wrote a book! It was such a great and intense experience, and it didn't leave me much time for anything else. I managed to keep my technical blog more or less "fed" with entries, but needless to say I had to cut some corners, and the private blog had to wait... The book is out now (or almost) however, it's called Silverlight 2 Unleashed and offers a solid introduction to the Silverlight technology developed by Microsoft. Without going too deep in details, Silverlight is a technology that can be compared to Flash, though it is more agreeable for developers and especially those already comfortable with other Microsoft technologies such as .NET and Windows Presentation Foundation. More details about the book can be found on my technical blog.

Flickr

Because of the book writing, I also had to reduce drastically my activities in the PhotoAlbum containing our family pictures. In order to continue publishing pictures for our family and friends, I opened an account at Flickr. This is a great service and I love many of its features, It also gave me a lot of ideas for the next version of PhotoAlbum... Yes I want to work on it again, as this has always been my pet project to try all kind of new technologies. I already have tons of ideas for the next version, more about this later. One important new feature is going to be Flickr integration for sure, and I am really looking forward to offer interaction with this great service.

While you wait for the new PhotoAlbum to be up and running, take a look at my Flickr account, where you will find all the new pictures, and where I gradually post older pictures too.

Recent trips and conferences

Since I posted my last blog here, I've been travelling, both alone for business and also with the family for leisure. All trips went great, though I obviously preferred the ones with Chi Meei and the girls :) But I can't complain, and it's also great to be able to go to various places in Europe and in the US for business.

Milano (September 2007)

Just a workshop in Milano with my Italian colleagues. They's a great bunch, and we've worked together quite a lot in the past. I went to Milano quite a few times since I started working on this project, and it almost feels like next door. Nice place though!!

Seattle / Redmond (October 2007)

Since 2006, I have been part of a small "insiders" group within Siemens, named "Microsoft Strategists". This group composed of people from each of the 5 main divisions at Siemens gathers developers having a long experience with Microsoft (often much longer than my own experience). Over the years, we managed to build great relationships with Microsoft, and the collaboration works really well. On some occasions, we meet either at Microsoft of at Siemens, and we talk about projects and collaboration. This time it was in Redmond, and it was really thrilling to be where so many cool things happen, Microsoft developer division headquarters.

• Seattle
• Redmond

Chicago (October 2007)

One more in the long list of workshops in the USA. I always appreciate going to the US somehow, the life style there is really different from what I am used to in Switzerland. While I really wouldn't like to live in the US, going there from time to time is a pretty cool change from life in Europe.

During this week, I also spent quite some time on my book, and wrote a couple of the early chapters there. Nowadays when I read these, I can totally picture myself in the hotel room or on a Starbucks terrace and typing typing typing. What a long way since then (the book is going to be published in a couple of weeks).

• Chicago

Princeton (December 2007)

This trip was really nice because Chi Meei and Alise also came. Laeticia was still a bit small for New York so she got to spend a week holidays at her grandparents. Now she is still a bitter that she didn't get to go to New York, but her time will come!

In fact Alise and Chi Meei arrived in New York before me, because before I left, I attended a workshop at Microsoft and took a later flight. I joined them later the same evening in Princeton where we stayed a couple of nights. From there, I went working at Siemens while they took the train to NYC. In the weekend, we all moved to a hotel downtown and enjoyed Manhattan the week before Christmas. A great time to be in New York (except for the half melted snow on the floor, because apparently they don't know how to handle snow in NYC :) We visited a lot (including the statue of Liberty), went to FAO Schwartz (yes we're that courageous) and the 2 women even made it to Toys are Us in Times Square (I gave up on that one and went to Starbucks instead).

Because all good things come to an end some day, Chi Meei and Alise had to go back while I worked a few days more in Princeton.

• New York

Nürnberg (January 2008)

We started the new year with a Microsoft@Siemens workshop. During this event, I was honored to present a session about WPF and then a 4 hours long workshop about WPF and Silverlight. The audience was really nice and reacted well to the talk. It was also a great occasion to meet with people from Microsoft Germany and with the responsible for Global ISVs in the USA, Eddie Amos.

Serfaus (February 2008)

Holiday time!! This year again, we went to Serfaus in the South Tirol (Austrian Alps) to ski one week long in a fantastic lanscape and on great tracks. The snow was good, and I had never before seen such an amazing weather for the whole week! It was truly fantastic. Our both girls went to the ski school and made big progresses. For Alise it was just the continuation of past courses, and she is like a veteran already. She is now able to ski on her own on really tough tracks and I must always ask her to go slower. She doesn't know fear. As for Laeticia, it was her first course so it was really just a start but it's a good preparation for further years. It was really a terrific week.

• Serfaus

Princeton (February 2008)

One more UI workshop in Princeton... Nothing much to add :)

Las Vegas (March 2008)

The MIX conference is my favorite Microsoft conference. I attended the very first one in 2006 and I can say that it changed my life. It was after this conference that I started blogging, that I started digging into WPF, that I heard for the first time about what would eventually become Silverlight. In addition, the conference is held in Las Vegas, in the Venetian hotel (one of the most amazing hotels in the world and the biggest). This year was even more special because it gave me the occasion to meet a lot of people I previously knew only from their blogs and Twitter feed, and to meet again previous friends. The conference itself brought tons of great content, and proved again how important the new client technologies are becoming for Microsoft and the industry in general.

• Las Vegas
• Together@MIX
• MIX 2008

TechDays Basel (March 2008)

I was invited by Microsoft to give a talk at the Swiss TechDays in Basel, and chose to talk about our experience with WPF in the big project i am working on currently. In this project, we have been studying the best ways to enable the designer-developer workflow. It's not easy because it is a collision of two very different worlds, art vs technology, and it is often necessary to smooth things up. This is where my role comes up, as "WPF Integrator" or "Interactive Developer" or anything you want to name it. The talk went great, about 250 people showed up and I got a lot of positive feedback.

Seattle (April 2008)

A memorable experience, my first participation to the Global MVP summit. Though I have been a Microsoft MVP since 2007, I couldn't go to Seattle in April 2007. I was extremely thrilled to be able to take part in 2008. It was a fantastic occasion to hear insider information about new technologies that Microsoft works on, to deliver feedback directly to the product teams, and to meet old friends... Some of all I had been following and corresponding with for quite a few years already, and many of them that I met for the very first time. It was a fantastic time indeed.

• Seattle
• MVP Summit

Presentation with Microsoft in Zurich (May 2008)

I was invited by the Developer Evangelists at Microsoft Switzerland to assist them at a presentation in Zurich. They gave 2 sessions about Silverlight and I gave a 3rd one, this time focussin on Windows Presentation Foundation and the differences between this technology and Silverlight. You can find slides and more info here.

Munich (June 2008)

I went to Munich a couple of times to meet some fellows developers using (or intending to use) Windows Presentation Foundation within Siemens. A great way to share our experiences... But a really long day because I didn't want to sleep in Munich, so I went there in the morning and came back at night.

Princeton (June 2008)

Another user interface design workshop. In addition, I was invited to speak at an internal conference about user experience. I took the occasion to talk about our experience with Windows Presentation Foundation again, this time putting more emphasis on internal details since the whole audience was Siemens.

Malaysia - Hong Kong (July 2008)

Holidays with the family, in Malaysia and in Hong Kong, and it was great. For the first time we were able to leave for 5 whole weeks, and this really made us feel at home there. After a week in Penang to visit Chi Meei's mom and older sister (with her husband and 2 kids), we flew down to Kuala Lumpur (KL). There we stayed at Chi Meei's other sister, who (and her husband and 4 kids!) were so nice to make us feel welcomed for the rest of the stay. We rented a car, which made us feel even more like home (well, with a GPS though...). It was just great.

I also spent some time on a small island named Perhentian (not very far from Kota Bharu on the east coast of Peninsula Malaysia, in the South China Sea). I went diving and had an amazing time there.

Finally, we finished our stay by one week in Hong Kong. It was my first time there and it was wonderful to discover this city. The kids and Chi Meei also had fun, we visited many great places and had amazing food... It was quite hard to come back to reality :) but we did eventually.

• Penang
• Kuala Lumpur
• Kuala Lumpur Downtown
• Bird and Butterfly park
• Batu Caves
• Kota Bharu
• Perhentian Island
• Diving in Perhentian
• Hong Kong

Chicago (September 2008)

This trip to Chicago was a bit special because I didn't travel there alone as usual, but a lot of my Swiss, Italian, Indian and US colleagues joined together for a 2 weeks long workshop. Also, the weekend was rainy... And not just a bit: The Saturday was actually the rainiest day EVER in Chicago (well, since they started measuring anyway, which was way back in the 1800). But nevermind, we had a good time anyway: Shopping for computer parts and other electronic equipment is always great for geeks like us, we had great food (Korean BBQ for lunch, Chinese Dim Sun in Chinatown for breakfast on Sunday, Steak dinner...). On Sunday, after Chinatown, we went to the Field Museum of National History and spent about 4 hours there. Great exhibit, we really had lots of fun. Since the rain had stopped, we took a long walk in Chicago down town before driving back. During this trip, I also spent quite some time finishing reviewing the book, for the last time...

• Chicago

Bormio (October 2008)

We discovered the hotel Bagni Nuovi in Bormio (Italy) a couple of years ago, and I really fell in love with this place. This is a 5 stars hotel, and a spa. The service is amazing, the spa is innovative and makes you feel like a king. Additionally, the village of Bormio is charming, and the drive from our place to there takes us through the [LINK]Swiss national park, and through a very small pass located at 2500 meters AMSL. This is really scenic! We went there again to relax (the kids were at my parents for holidays) and it really was wonderful. Apart from bathing and soaking, we also took the occasion to visit a few small mountain villages and to appreciate italian food, yum!!

• Swiss national park
• Bormio

New job

Yes, after more than 12 years at Siemens, I decided to take a new challenge and it's a really exciting one. From the 1st of December, I will be a Senior Interactive Developer for IdentityMine. This company is amazing. I've known them since the beginning of 2007, when they gave us a course about the new technology that we had decided to use in the project I am still working on. Before that I had been following the blogs of some of them and it was a great experience to meet them face to face and to discuss some issues. It was even more amazing when they told me that they had been following my blog. Since then I have been really impressed by their professionalism and their skills. We had a few occasions to work really closely together, and I have been dreaming of working with them for some time already... But moving to Seattle was not really an option, even though I love this city. When you have kids, and when you have the qualilty of life that we are blessed with in Switzerland, you don't move very easily... Thankfully, IdentityMine started to be more active in Europe and decided to open a european headquarter... Now we were talking working with them witout having to move, definitely a win-win situation. I will write more about our plans in Europe after it starts (time seems so slow now...) :)