How the Microsoft TechEd Experience Changes with #TheKrewe

By MattG / June 18, 2013 June 1, 2020 / Microsoft, Out-of-Band Post

The last three years I have been extraordinarily lucky that I have been able to attend Microsoft TechEd. Every year I have participated in a group known as #TheKrewe and I have striven to force myself into social situations more and more every year.

What is #TheKrewe?

“The Krewe is a community organized professional networking group. Our mission is to build a dynamic networking community through various activities and gatherings. The Krewe primarily meets at Microsoft TechEd North America every year where we have The Krewe Meet ‘N Greet the day prior to the opening of the conference. Our group takes Networking to a whole new level, we are all close friends and are open to helping each other in any way possible be it through charitable works or by helping solve a question that has you stumped in your professional life. We are IT people from every level of the career, you may find someone totally new to IT who is just starting off or meet someone who has 20 years’ experience and is an MVP, MCT, MCP and any other abbreviation you can think of.”

– IAMKREWE.ORG

Year 1 Experience

My first year at Microsoft TechEd was in 2011 and I was still a student in college. I had no idea what I was doing attending this conference, I just knew I was excited and I was ready to learn. As the conference approached I realized I wanted to find evening parties as much as possible… after all I was 21 and who doesn’t love free drinks? …

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Starting My Journey through #90Days2MCSA

By MattG / April 9, 2013 June 1, 2020 / Administrator, Microsoft

Hello Everyone! I apologize for my months disappearance from blogging, it’s been a busy March and will continue to be busy throughout TechEd! That is not a bad thing, and I will strive to increase my blogging. One thing that is going to help me in the interim is my Journey to my Server 2012 MCSA!

Michael Bender along with MS Learning has made a push for people to obtain their MCSA with the #90Days2MCSA Challenge, this is a fantastic idea is a great way as a community for everyone to improve their skills.

I’d like to start off by saying I may be a featured certification success story on the 90Days2MCSA site; however I do not have my Server 2012 MCSA yet and that means I get to participate! I’ve been hiding in the shadows and doing some studying with the official Microsoft Press 70-417 Upgrading Your Skills to MCSA Windows Server 2012.

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Storage Space Virtual Disk Disconnected on Restart

By MattG / February 9, 2013 June 1, 2020 / Administrator, Microsoft

So I recently had to rebuild my Server 2012 virtual server. I had storage spaces setup and after I finished the install the Virtual Disk was not mounted. I realized that I was able to bring it all back online, but every restart it had to remount the VHD.

I had decided there must be a way to fix it and decided to see what the properties were within PowerShell. I ran a Get-VirtualDisk which showed me my single VHD (pictured below)

I was thrilled when I saw the IsManualAttach property, with a simple execution of Set-VirtualDisk Data -IsManualAttach 0, I executed a Get-VirtualDisk and verified it took the settings change. After a restart the VirtualDisk was already mounted and resolved my problem with only two PowerShell commands.

TechEd 2013 is Coming!

By MattG / February 5, 2013 June 1, 2020 / Microsoft, Out-of-Band Post

Hello Everyone! Sorry for the delay in posting but this is super important! Tech Ed 2013 registration will be opening on February 12th so make sure you start begging your bosses for approval to go to this conference. I am lucky enough that I received my approval already and plan on booking everything as soon as registration opens. I strongly recommend you read on to know how to make the best out of your TechEd experience, with much more content on this subject to come as time gets closer.

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How Windows 8 change my view on Microsoft

By MattG / November 24, 2012 June 1, 2020 / Microsoft, User

I have always loved the Windows Operating System, but their phones were a joke back it the day, and their in-house hardware was just accessories and a game console. I have come to the conclusion that Windows 8 isn’t designed to just be an Operating System, it is designed to increase the Microsoft Market Share across all of their devices. I used Windows 8 off and on throughout the previews and it was good but nothing super spectacular. However once it was finally released I decided I was making the leap at home.

Telling Friends/Family/Co-workers about Products

In March 2012 I gave a presentation at work about Windows 8 on Desktop and Tablet and I enjoyed it quite a bit, I had many people asking me questions. After all my research was complete I was starting to tell friends to hold off on buying tablets till the end of the year. Once the Surface came out I made sure I had it on day of release, I took it into the office and I was demonstrating it pretty much all day telling people my impressions on the device and how nice the TouchCover was.

Since then I have had my brother question me about it and I believe the Surface might become his only computer in the near future, honestly it would be my only computer if I were not in the IT Field and some of the Software I use requires the x86 chip architecture. It has even got to the point where my mother is telling her friends about the Surface being such a fantastic device.

Increased Xbox 360 Usage

I think the my Xbox 360 usage has really increased the most. I’ve owned it for many years and I am actually more of a PS3 player than I ever was invested in Xbox. In-fact I own www.playstationeuphoria.com and it started with PSN@Home 5-6 years ago and I was the main one blogging. Once I received my Microsoft Surface I decided to finally try out Xbox SmartGlass and it was amazing, I began buying games for the Xbox and seems like I play it every other day at a minimum.

Purchasing Windows Phone 8

After adjusting to Windows 8, after owning a Surface, and admittedly also playing with the Lumia 900 running Windows Phone 7 at TechEd 2012, I was impressed. I knew that I was interested in switching from my iPhone since I had owned it for 3 years and no matter how many new devices came out the changes were minimal at best. I decided since Microsoft was knocking everything out of the park I would go ahead and purchase the Lumia 920 once it was available, day it came out I went to the AT&T Store and picked up a Red Lumia 920. I’ve had minimal issues with the phone but overall love it.

Conclusion

Overall I have to say not only did Microsoft do fantastic on Windows 8, and the Surface and on Windows Phone 8 but the integration of all the devices, using SkyDrive has been unbelievable. I’ve got my phone syncing my picture to SkyDrive, and I can pull out my Surface to write a blog and use those exact photos with no effort on my part.