I’m using Windows 8 on many different devices, but have a couple still running Windows 7 for one reason or another (main family computer has 3d and Media Center – haven’t upgraded it yet).  Here’s one thing I miss when I’m not in Windows 8 – multiple taskbars on multiple monitors.  In Windows...

Today marks my 7th anniversary at Microsoft. 7 years ago I couldn't have even imagined where Microsoft was headed. Three versions of Windows and Office (and Server, SQL, etc.) later, the company has delivered on software + services and now has devices coming. Windows 8 is the first time I've been as...

Taylor Mali has inspired 1,000 teachers through his poetry and 12 year quest. Although he reached the goal, it will be interesting to see how many more will be influenced through those 1,000 and his books, poetry and performances. My wife Eva just finished her presidency as DeKalb Kiwanis President....

Today I was setting up a couple URL with the Microsoft Social Experience Platform (SXP) shortening service, aka.ms and in one search on Bing found out that my Microsoft alias, drey , is what you call a squirrel's nest. Instead of typing in blogs.technet.com/drey, I shortened it to aka.ms/drey . This...

In 1988 I met my future wife, Eva.  That summer I left for DeKalb and made her a mix tape (that apparently was really meaningful beyond the hours I put into hand writing the track lists and getting the right tracks to fill up a 90 minute cassette.  One of the bands I picked was a little known...

i began my journey at microsoft. i was really excited and couldn't think of a better fit than the job and the company i was about to start at for me and my career. there were a few things that happened that i found amusing. that first day i received my "blue badge" (full time microsoft employees are...

i’m coming up on 6 years at microsoft and still wake up every day jazzed about what i do, the people i work with, and probably most importantly for me – some visionaries at the top.  i just read j allard’s internal memo “decide. change. reinvent.” and have been keeping an eye on both the public...

this is likely my tribute to steve jobs post.  it originally was going to be a post about acting and thinking differently, but based upon the events of this week and some reflection, it seems more appropriate to also serve as a what i learned from steve jobs post.  my mom and steve jobs could...

it seems not a month goes by at microsoft where you aren’t testing something or submitting feedback on software.  if you enjoy living between what is here and what’s next, microsoft is a really fun place to work.  it’s obviously not the only company that is introducing new hardware, software...

probably the coolest part of working for microsoft is the opportunity to dogfood so many amazing technologies before they are released. from windows and office to xbox and windows live there have been so many opportunities to take a look ahead i have lost count. there are times while i have been with...

there is only one teacher i can think of that i had and that my kids had in dekalb. mrs. north was my reading tutor one summer in middle school and she has had both sam and audrey in music class. many people i know have been doing something similar for many years but have changed employers frequently...

tonight i watched oprah's show about the freedom riders in the early 1960s and watching from the vantage point of 50 years later with our first african american president in office it seems unreal what those brave men and women endured 50 years ago. i noticed a google chrome commercial during american...

mrs. farley taught math and she was one of the most influential teachers i had in high school. i remember her making entrances on roller skates and making almost every day in her classroom entertaining and unpredictable. she gave me extra points on senior skip day (my dad was on the school board at the...

yesterday was april fools day (or the beginning of my wife's birthday month) and the pranks were flying online. here are 10 of my favorite this year. 0. my wife woke up to say there was snow on the ground - she forgot i had already been outside to take out the trash #fail. later that morning it snowed...

I'VE BEEN BLOGGING FOR A WHILE AND HAVE RECEIVED A FEW QUESTIONS ABOUT WHY I ALWAYS POST IN LOWER CASE. IN HIGH SCHOOL WE READ POEMS BY E E CUMMINGS AND THE IDEA THAT YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO CAPITALIZE THE FIRST LETTER OF A SENTENCE STUCK WITH ME. TO MAKE UP FOR ALL THE LOWER CASE, I'M GOING TO ALL CAPITALS...

3:50 pm it’s been less than 24 hours since i memorized the dvorak keyboard and i’m no speed demon as this post will attest to… 3:54 pm but what the four minutes of trying to remember where the colon is on the dvorak layout (it’s where the shift + z should be!), another powerful reason for a full operating...

it's friday afternoon and seems like an appropriate time to post a couple paragraphs about things i've been doing in my spare time both computer and non computer-related. a couple of things i've been doing on the computer include learning the dvorak keyboard (i'm downloading mavis beacon software right...

this afternoon i came across an oldie but goodie – a dell floppy drive from a dell inspiron 8600 i owned in 2003.  to my surprise it has an usb port, so i was able to attach it to a windows 7 64 bit computer (the good news – windows 7 64 bit supports floppy drives!  the bad news – windows 7...

in my five years at microsoft i’ve had a chance to attend a lot of events.  my first “launch” event was for windows vista in february 2006 where I had a chance to do two of the keynote demos in front of an audience of over 4,500 attendees.  i’ve worked at the intel developers conference, internal...

today is my 5 year anniversary at microsoft and seems like a great time to think back through the changes in the past 5 years.  i already had a windows mobile phone (and had gotten rid of a traditional “home phone”) when hired and computers (desktops and laptops), a windows media center, tv tuners...

i have finally made a convert to the amazon kindle - my wife (and hopefully soon my parents or at least my father). i shouldn't take any of the credit - her friend (and my high school classmate) amy actually did all the work. i've been toying with the idea ever since it came out (since my wife loves...

this week i saw the movie inception for the second time and it reminded me of another movie when i was young that i really enjoyed brainstorm. brainstorm is a movie staring christopher walken and natalie wood about two scientists that perfect a machine that allows one person to "playback" the real world...

two years ago this month i joined dekalb area toastmasters. for the past year i have served as our club's president. today i was able to recreate my "icebreaker" speech the way i would have two years ago if a projector were available. the title of the speech was "powerpoint not required". i started out...

a couple weeks ago someone mentioned that they don’t understand half of the stuff i post here, on twitter and on facebook (because my twitter updates also appear on facebook automatically) and i got to thinking about how much of what i communicate assumes you work in information technology.  thus...

…was my last day as a full time employee of the information management group.  a couple weeks prior i sent the following email entitled “going forward”: please use my hotmail account for email.  i've turned in my full time resignation effective april 1st (one of my favorite days), but will...