We have some events coming up in December.

First, on Monday, 7 December is the Atlanta area User Groups Holliday party. There will be food, xbox gameing, etc. Party is from 6:30PM to 9PM at the Microsoft Office. Registeration and directions are here. The details show after you register. Please bring a Toys for Tots. If you want to ride with someone else, carpool leaves my office around 5PM. Email me for the address using the Contact link above or reply to one of the user group emails.

If you have any trouble with the link, go to http://www.clicktoattend.com/ and enter event id 138493

The ATL Holiday party is a lot of fun and gives you a chance to network a little.

Second, on Tuesday, 8 December is the MSDN Events Presents: The Southern Fried Roadshow, Fall 2009 Tour. Click to Register.

Third, on Friday, 11 December is the Elite Web Optimization Event.

And Last but not least, on Monday, 14 December is our next user group meeting with a presentation and Q and A by our own David Washington. The topic is:

SQL Server 2008 - Visualizing Spatial Data in Reporting Services

For anyone who doesn't know, Spatial Data is exactly like what it sounds like; x and y or latitude and longitude data. This sounds like a really neat topic and I look forward to seeing everyone there.

Dave Cameron is hosting a Windows 7 Launch party. He sent an invite to everyone on the mailing list. If you would like to come and you didn't get an invite, use the contact form or the comments section to let us know.

 We are excited about Windows 7 and besides it is an excuse to have a party.

Dave's Macon Windows 7 Launch Party

Also, if you do want to come but you don't want to create an account on the 'House Party' site, just send us a note on the contact form or comments section so Dave knows how many people are coming. I agree that having to setup an account to RSVP is annoying.

I'm looking for people who want to compare Windows 7 to their existing OS's (MS or not, old or new).

There will be open wireless access for the night of the party.

The next meeting is scheduled for 15 June 2009 at 7 PM at the Bear Rock Cafe. [Bear Rock Cafe Directions]

This month we will have two short presentations by Kyle Kelly and myself (Zack Moore).

Kyle’s presentation will cover TSQL Tips and Tricks.

Flexible T-SQL: How to Bend T-SQL to Overcome Everyday Programming Obstacles

Using OpenXML as a substitute for passing arrays to stored procedures, using Partition Over and Row_Number to narrow down queries, and using BitWise operators to make fast, flexible queries.

Kyle maintains a blog at http://www.damba.net/

My presentation will be on log4net.

log4net: Adding runtime configurable logging to your applications

log4net is a free open source logging component that was originally ported from a java project. What makes log4net so useful is the ability to configure your logging at runtime and not at design or compile time. Developers can route their logging to multiple destinations including but not limited to the text files, the Windows Event log, a database, email, and a Syslog server.

Pizza and snacks will be provided. Bring your friends.

[UPDATE 12 Jun 2009]

Apex Systems will donate a copy of Pro ASP.NET MVC Framework for the raffle at the end. If you are interested in MVC, this is a pretty good book.

Apex Systems is a technical recruiter. Scott from Apex will be there to give the book to the raffle winner so if you know anyone who might be interested in a new job, Scott is the person to talk to.

Ken sent me the examples from his presentation and I haven’t gotten around to posting them.

For your enjoyment, here is his sample code.

Our next meeting will be on Monday, 13 Apr 2009 at 7PM

Our presenter will be our very own Ken Fortuna. Ken is a local developer at MERC in Warner Robins.

Ken will give a summary of Parallel processing techniques and gotchas when using .NET and provide some practical examples.

As usual, there will be some snacks and a software and book raffle.

I can't make this but for anyone interested it is Friday, 13 March 2009. Unfortunatly, it is 9AM to 3PM on a Friday but it looks like an interesting talk covering jQuery, Oslo, and the VS Debugger.

Click here to sign up for the MSDN Atlanta Souther Fried Road Show.

But I am going to the Atlanta Code Camp and SQL Saturday!

this almost snuck up on me, but Kyle was kind enough to remind me.

Saturday, 14 March 2009 is the Atlanta Code Camp

It's free. It's all day. They feed you.

There are 9 tracks with mostly local speakers and an eclectic selection of topics. The 9 tracks are Miscellaneous, Data, Architecture, Beyond the Framework, Web, Future Technologies, Silverlight, Open Spaces, and .NET Framework Fundamentals.

There are sessions on everything from MVC to Entity Framework to Silverlight to doing Interviews to becoming an Independing.

Check out the agenda.

Sign Up for Atlanta Code Camp 2009.

Email me or use the Contact Form if you want to carpool.

Tracks:

This event is almost full. If you are interested, then you should register right away.

If you tried to register before and couldn’t, there are a few extra seats open now. If you decide to go, let me know. I’m already planning a carpool with 2 other people!

AtlantaMDF is proud to host the first Atlanta SQLSaturday, on April 25, 2009

at the Microsoft offices in Alpharetta. A lunch fee of $10 covers a full

day of training, including a featured presentation by Joe Celko: "Nested

Sets Model - Trees & Hierarchies in SQL". Other presenters include Erik

Veerman, Andy Warren, Kevin G. Boles, and many more! Seating is limited, so

reserve your spot today at http://www.sqlsaturday.com

Here are my slides and examples. I will update this when I get Dave and Chad's files.

If you find any errors or typos, let me know.

The next meeting is January 12th and will be given by Dave Cameron, Chad Brooks from Microsoft, and myself.

The topic will be a summary of various .NET data access technologies or ...

".NET Data Access: Where do all these pieces fit?"

Topics we will hit are:

• LINQ
• Code Generation
• Entity Framework
• ADO.NET Data Services
• Dynamic Data

As usual, there will be snacks. Additionally we will be giving out 2 copies of Visual Studio 2008 at the end of the talk.

So mark your calendar! Location is the same as last time, right off I75 at the Bear Rock Cafe on the Mercer University Campus. Its easy to get to from anywhere in the area.

Meet up around 7 PM and the presentation should start around 7:15 PM. If you are running behind, don't worry about it. Just come on in.