Dan Wolchonok

I saw this excerpt from an announcement about the next version of Visual Studio.  I think that if Microsoft really interested in going after the agile developer, then it makes sense to blend the role of the traditional DBA and web engineer.  In a lot of the cases I’ve been exposed to (at PwC and in personal projects), there is usually one person where the tools have been designed for two different people.  Here’s the excerpt of Microsoft’s strategy to bring them together:

Merging of Developer, DBA Roles

Most of these changes are a ways off, though you can expect to see some of this functionality demonstrated at the upcoming Microsoft Professional Developers’ Conference. One item, however, takes effect immediately.

As Microsoft sees it, the roles of the database-centric developer and “regular” developer are less distinct than they once were, so the company is merging its VSTS database and development products. As of October 1, those who belong to the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) and currently own Visual Studio Team System 2008 Development Edition or Visual Studio Team System 2008 Database Edition will receive for free the Visual Studio Team System 2008 Development Edition, Visual Studio Team System 2008 Database Edition, Visual Studio 2005 Team System for Software Developers and Visual Studio 2005 Team System for Database Professionals.

As someone who used the Team Suite tools for “Software Developers” and “Database Professionals”, I think it makes sense, as I constantly had to take one hat off when playing the other.  I think it’ll make it easier for developers to use one toolset, which is more and more common nowadays when developing simple CMS or CRUD type web sites.

My friends and I always joke that we’re entering our “Senior Year of Life”.  As with many people my age, we count years based off of when we graduated from college.  Starting in June 2005, my first year out from college, I was a freshman in terms of real world experience.  It has been 3 years since graduating from Tufts, therefore I am entering my fourth year, or my senior year of life.

What an exciting start to the year it has been, indeed!  Check out what has happened and what else is planned:

• I moved from outside Central Square to Harvard Square.
• I left PwC to become a software engineer at FAST.
• I bought a car to get myself to my new job (as of this post yet to happen).
• I turned 25 and had a quarter life crisis (my birthday is September 25th).  I am not ruling out the possibility of getting a really expensive sports car to satisfy the quarter life crisis.

I’m excited about all of these changes.  My senior year looks pretty exciting, indeed.

I went to see the new movie Wall-E with my little brother Chris this weekend.  Chris and I both liked it – it was another smash hit from Pixar.  Take a look at just a selection of their big hits:

• Toy Story
• Toy Story 2
• Finding Nemo
• Ratatouille
• The Incredibles (one of my personal favorites)

I don’t know the exact count, but every movie they’ve created has been a huge success.  I’m a big fan of how they blend great stories with cutting edge technology.  Also, if you’ve been to their web site or have seen one of their movies in theatres, they usually show a “short film” beforehand that never disappoints.  I have a big crush on Pixar.  There, I said it.

I saw this post on the New York Times today and I found it really interesting.  It talks about how Apple and Pixar share a common bond in Steve Jobs, and how apple products are seamlessly integrated in the movie.  During the movie, I noticed the sound of an apple computer turning on (when Wall-E rebooted or finished charging his batteries).  The part that really cracked me up was that someone behind me whispered to a friend “that’s the sound of a windows computer turning on”.  I guess the product placement was lost on that particular person.  Maybe apple has some more work to do in their Apple vs. PC commercials.

I came back from Tokyo for good in the first week of May. I was pretty excited to be back for good, getting back into a routine before the summer started. After I finally got over the last bout of jet lag, I decided to sign up for a new activity. After taking the T to work, running, and hanging out along the river I decided that I wanted to be on one of the sail boats dotting the Charles river on a nice day. After getting convinced by my friend Kara, I had made up my mind. I signed up for a year membership at the community boathouse next to the longfellow bridge.

It really is an amazing deal. For $230, you get unlimited use of the boats and free classes for a full calendar year. Once you obtain the Helmsman rating, you can take out boats and bring along friends. It’s all included in the year membership.

My second weekend with the membership I went and took a class called Shore School, which is all the basics of sailing. That is half of the Solo rating, which is the rating that allows you to take a boat out on your own. The second half is what I finished this past weekend. You learn about how to rig a boat: getting the sail, tiller, and then setting up the boat to get you out on the water. Right before I practiced rigging up a boat on my own, I saw another classmate loseWeight Exercise his balance on a boat and fall over the side. Luckily for me, I didn’t do that and ended up passing the test. While I didn’t get out on the water this weekend, I think I’ll be out on the water for sure next weekend. I can’t wait for the next weekend.