My First Book is Really Done!

MCTS 70-631 Study Guide

  • I turned in my last chapter in early June, but it didn’t seem real.
  • I finished reviewing the proof pages at the end of July, but I still wasn’t convinced.
  • I created ancillary material to promote the book two weeks ago, and I thought maybe I was done
  • But when I got home from teaching this week and found a copy of my new book had been delivered by the publisher it finally sank in.

  I’m a published author!

 

I’ve contributed chapters to books for a number of years now and I’ve always wanted to have at least one with my name on the cover.  I’ve started on books of my own at least twice before, but circumstances always interfered and I wasn’t able to finish them.  This year I promised myself would be different and I’m happy to say it is.  I spend the first 6 months of the year co-writing a study guide for the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 MCTS exam (70-631).  The book will be on store shelves October 19, 2009, just in time for the SharePoint Conference in Vegas.  You can also order it direct from Amazon. If you haven’t certified on WSS yet, pick up a copy of the book and bring it with you to Vegas.  You can find me in the Mindsharp booth in the vendor area.  I’ll be PROUD to sign your book.

Best Practices Conference Wrap-up

3421642827_9f52c70952_t[1]I just arrived home from the Best Practices Conference last week.  The conference was EXCELLENT!   There were lots of great sessions to hear, attendees to talk to, and friends to visit with.  The next BP Conference will be sometime next August/September.  Don’t miss out on that one if you didn’t get to this one. 

For any of those who attended, I’ve attached the slide deck from my talk on Monday about Best Practices around managing Users, Profiles and MySites.

Users, Profiles, and MySites  Presentation Slides.

Finally joined Twitter

Many people know that I’ve avoided joining Twitter for a long time.  But I finally got an offer I couldn’t refuse.  I’m here at the New Zealand Community SharePoint conference and was on an expert’s panel earlier today with Paul Culmsee, Chandima Kulathilake, Joel Oleson, and Steve Smith.  Before the questioning started Joel was giving me a hard time because I was the only panelist not on Twitter.  Then he gave me a choice.  Either join Twitter or join him in eating some Kina (Sea Urchin – a local New Zealand delicacy).  I’ve decided to choose TWITTER!  Here’s a picture of Joel eating Kina.
 

IMG_0023

You can read about his response on Joel’s Blog here, and I quote, "It smelled foul, very fishy…"  All in all, I would rather Twitter.

Renewed as an MVP!

I’m in New Zealand this week speaking at the first New Zealand SharePoint Community Conference.   Since they are on the other side of the international date line it means that yesterday was July 1st here, but I had to wait until July 2nd (July 1st in North America) to find out whether I was re-awarded or not.  I was on pins and needles all day long waiting for my renewal email.  I had to keep telling myself it wasn’t really July 1st yet.

Anyway, the good news is that I have received an MVP award again this year for SharePoint server.  I am even more EXCITED this year than I was my first year because I now know just how great this program is.  Thanks to all those who have asked me questions this past year and those who came to listen to me at conferences.  Without you I wouldn’t have this opportunity.  I hope to continue to live up to the honor that has been bestowed on me again this year.

Hot Fix for SP2 available!

Occasionally when you install Service Pack 2 on a MOSS installation it will reset the license code so that SharePoint thinks it is an evaluation copy that will expire in 180 days.  It doesn’t actually break any functionality, at least not until the 180 days is up.  But it can be a bit disconcerting if you look at the licensing.  You can read more about the problem in the following KnowledgeBase article:
 
 
The SharePoint product team issued a Hot Fix last night that corrects the problem.  The Hot Fix can be applied either before or after installing SP2.  They are also working on getting the Hot Fix built right into the download of SP2, but that will take about 4 weeks before the download site is updated.  In the meantime you can download the hot fixes in the following locations: