I guess I prematurely announced the launch of our new blogging community, www.TheRuntime.com

After our initial launch we discovered some configuration problems that, although not insrumountable, were just irritating enough to make us look for another platform on which to run the community.  We settled on subText and are once again up and running.  We are anxious to start  delivering top quality content so we are releasing the site with most of the out-of-the-box configuration intact.  We will be adding additional features and a branded look to the site as soon as we can.  I encourage you to come by and check it out.

Let me be the first to welcome Edward to DevAuthority.com.  I am thrilled to have you on board (even if his first post did point out my hasty, uneducated post on Generics from the way back machine <grin/>)...  By the way Edward, did I mention you're fired!!! 

In all seriousness, Edward is a member of my team at work and I couldn't be happier to see him joining this community as a contributor.  I look forward to the great content I know he is capable of producing.  I am excited to see what he has in store for all of us. 

We now have a date for the "Night of AJAX/Silverlight" in Cleveland, Ohio.  We will be holding the event on Monday October 15th at 6:00 pm.  We will have Jay Kimble of CodeBetter.com here to talk about these emerging technologies.  Come on out and join us.  It will be held at the Microsoft Office in Independance near the I77 - I480 interchange off of Rockside Rd.

Microsoft Offices
6050 Oak Tree Blvd # 300
Cleveland, OH 44131
(216) 986-1440

We will also be officially announcing the date for Code Camp Cleveland at this event. 

It's now official.  Plans to hold the first official Code Camp in Cleveland are beginning to materialize.  We even have a site.  It has no content or functionality yet, but the design is in place courtesy of Tina Vance owner of Whiskey Island Design.  Thanks Tina!  Be sure to stop by the new site and check it out.  And with any luck I'll start getting some real content on there by Monday.  www.codecampcleveland.com

The real reason for this post however, is to anounce that we will be holding a "pre-camp" event in mid/late October.  I don't have a date or location yet, but these will be comming.  We are going to be welcoming Jay Kimble of Codebetter.com fame and AJAX guru from Florida.  We will plan to hold a two hour event in which Jay will present an Intro to AJAX followed up with AJAX best practices and a discussion of Javascript Alternatives (eg. Script#/Silverlight).  Please plan to check it out.  Be sure to check back for more information as it becomes available.  Also, if you would like to be alerted when the plans are solidified, feel free to comment here or send me an email so I can let you know personally.

So where has the webgypsy been??  I know, it was January 4th the last time I posted to this blog!  Like any good gypsy, you might think that I had moved on looking for the next opportunity.  On the contrary, shortly after the last entry, I got promoted to Software Development Manager in my company and have been very busy learning skill of management.  My new position is very different from my job as a Developer, but I have learned to enjoy it very much.  I like the opportunity that I have to bridge the gap between the development staff and management.  On the downside, I have my share of mindless administrative tasks, but I also get the benefits setting architectural direction and doing as much R&D coding as I can fit in.  All-in-all life is good right now for this webgypsy!  In fact this gypsy may settle in for a while. 

Anyway, to the point of this post, things are once again settling down a little now that I've been doing the job for nearly 5 months.  So I have been thinking about some of my personal goals for the rest of this year.  I don't know how realistic my entire list is, but here they are:

• Begin blogging more frequently (I learn so much when I write down my thoughts)
• Pick up and continue to organize CodeCampCleveland!  (I have been working on this for about 9 months now, but got sidetracked for quite a while)
• Get Certified!  (this is one I've wanted to do for a long time now)
• Spend more time Improving DevAuthority.com  (I love this site, I guess I should try harder to show it the affection it deserves <grin/>)

So there you have it.  My goals for the next 9+ months or so.  I suppose writing them here doesn't mean much unless you all take the time every once in a while to hold me accountable to them.  If you feel so inclined over the course of this next year, drop me a line and just ask me about one of these and maybe the shear shame of it all will drive me to see at least some of these through to completion.

I just wanted to post an update for anyone that has been wondering about where CodeCampCleveland stands.

I have been working with several people in the area to secure a location and so far we have been unsuccesful.  I have a few more leads and some renewed hope, but at this point I'm pretty sure that we aren't going to be looking at late-Winter/early-Spring as we had originally hoped.  I will keep the updates coming as they become available.  In the meantime anyone in the Cleveland area with any connections to a suitable facility.  Please contact me!  I have a couple of possibilities developing but wouldn't mind researching a few others.

CodeBetter.Com, the inspiration for the creation of this community, has launched it's newest feature, a new job board which went live today.  You can read about the benefits of jobs.codebetter.com in the latest post from Eric Wise.

One of the key features that I would like to point out is that these postings will be displayed throughout the blogging community on a variety of affiliate sites.  When an employer purchases a listing, they get the benefit of exposure to a vast base of developers who are reading blogs and trying to improve their skills.

If you are an employer and would like to take advantage of this new board, then please click the "Post a Job Here" link on the job teaser on this page or go to jobs.codebetter.com and type in the referal code "DEVAUTHORITY".  When you do so you help to keep this site up and running.