September, 2010

Just announced today: Windows Live Essentials 2011 available for download now.

Windows Live essentials includes:

• Windows Live Family Safety
• Windows Live Mesh
• Windows Live Photo Gallery
• Windows Live Movie Maker
• Windows Live Messenger
• Windows Live Writer
• Windows Live Mail

Download it today!

Get started and download Windows Live Essentials 2011 today!

One of the most touching and powerful experiences I have gotten to do , on and off, for the last few years is pass out pink ribbons at Cleveland Browns stadium.    This is part of Think Pink month to help promote awareness and prevention of Cancer.  I am really looking forward to helping again this year.   I will be with my good friend Lisa an her husband Dave, and all the great volunteers from Zeta Tau Alpha (ZTA).  However, I will also be with my dad, and I am looking forward to passing out the ribbons, as well as the game, having lost my mom to cancer about 5 years ago, this is personal for me, and my dad. 

All I ask if you happen to go to game on Sunday, and a volunteer, like me asks you to wear a ribbon, do so.  We are not asking for a donation, although they are graciously accepted, just help us drive awareness to help fight this terrible disease.  Whether you are a mom, know a mom, or like a mom please wear the ribbon, if not for yourself wear one for them! 

To learn more about what the Cleveland Browns are doing on Sunday,  take a look at these two articles: 

• Browns Go Pink 
• Cribbs joins cancer fight 

See you Sunday, and remember to Think Pink, and wear a ribbon.

Welcome to another week, and this week was a very good week of running and work outs.  I find myself really enjoying the training, and really enjoying the cooler weather.  I ran on Sunday morning for my 8 miles yesterday, and I think it was low 50’s.  It was a good solid run, and it was the first week for me, that was a back to back run, 6 on Saturday, followed by the 8.  It was a good reminder of what runs do to your legs.  I was faster on Saturday, but felt stronger on Sunday.  Weird.  I think my legs just figured out what I am going to do to them again in January.  :-)

As we talked about my week 3 post about my lower body workout, I also wanted to share a little bit about my core and upper body workout.  Really it is about the whole body when your running, and while running is great, I have learned the benefits of core training.  Core training for me keeps me much more centered and upright as a runner.  This allows me to focus on my legs, while they are carrying me towards the finish.  What else I have found out about core is breathing seems easier, and more natural.  Granted I still have those runs will I feel like I going to explode, but I recover faster than I ever have, and bottom line I feel better.  Last thing, is core has benefits for other areas as well.  I have found my golf swing has dramatically improved, because of a stronger core.   Also get used to planks and push ups, two great core workouts.

Here is a sample upper and core workout I do:

• 15 minutes Elliptical machine (get loosened up)
• 3 sets of 3 different push ups (normal, hands on a ball, feet on a ball) there are hundreds of ways to do push ups, find 3 types and go for it.  I normally go with 1 easy, 1 hard, and 1 middle of the road.
• hanging knee raises
• Bench with Bench dips after each bench set
• Shoulder Raises alternately with Dumbbell Curls
• diagonal wood chop (bing it).  One way I do it  the gym is to grab a 45 pound plate (or whatever you are  comfortable with), grab I by the sides.  The start with it over my right foot, then cross my body as I push it up to the upper left.  Works the arms, shoulders and core to stabilize the while thing.
• New one, Turkish getups (tough exercise)

Overall, this will make a stronger run, or at least it has for me.  Let me know if you have any questions.

This weeks fun song, is the from the Blacked Eyed Peas, because I Gotta Feeling  I am going to be FAST!

BTW, ACTION ITEM: I would love to hear what your favorite songs are that you run to (so email me mhester@microsoft.com  and let me know)  Here is my training for this week, have a great week everybody:

Registration still appears to be the same from last week: full is at 65%, the half is at 77% and Goofy is at 70% registration!  http://espnwwos.disney.go.com/events/rundisney/wdw-marathon/  Not sure if this right, if someone has recently registered and these numbers have to been updated, please let me know.

When you were a child, chances are you looked up into the sky and  wondered what kind of cloud you were looking at or what cloud you want to be.   Back then knowing what type of a cloud you were looking at boiled down to a three main choices:

• Cirrus
• Stratus
• Cumulus

Now you may not have really asked that question, but you may have had a pushy science teacher asking you the question.  You may even have been dozing when you were asked that question, and blurted out a name at the top of your head, which btw was not your favorite or the right answer.  Heck you did have a 1 in 3 chance of getting the answer right.

As an IT Professional today, you are being asked, or asking yourself, the same question today.  What kind of Cloud is right for the business?  This is not a question you want to guess at, or even get wrong.  It is a question you will have to take a look at your business, and the cloud choices to make the best decision for your organization. 

This question could be coming from many different sides, it might come from your boss, your developers, or even your colleagues from other business.  With all the choices we have today the possibilities in the coming in the future, you have several choices of clouds to consider:

• Windows Azure
• Business Productivity Online Suite
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM
• Microsoft Exchange Hosted Services

Now combine the conversation with the fact you the choice to house your infrastructure, on-premises, all in the cloud, or a mix based on your business needs.  Chances are like most organizations you are looking at the mixed type of environment.  You have to start thinking about the cloud, and what type of cloud will most benefit your business today.  There are a lot of organizations asking this question today, and finding value in the cloud and so can you.

So: What Kind of Cloud is Your Business Looking to Become?

When you look at all the above choices from Microsoft, they provide a secure and flexible set of cloud-based IT solutions, including communications, collaboration, data storage, and infrastructure services.  By providing a safe, familiar environment where you can test, develop, and deploy, Microsoft cloud services lets you dramatically scale your applications; leverage skills like PHP, Java, and Eclipse; and more.  To help you find out, I have a Quiz for you to take:

www.microsoft.com/cloud/quiz

This quiz will let you know what kind of cloud you are and more importantly allow to start to discover more about the choices the cloud has for you.  Find out how Microsoft® cloud services can help you focus on development, not infrastructure, and ultimately help you answer the question, what kind of cloud are you.

Wow what a good week, and man it felt good to get that 11 miler our of the road yesterday, and it was tough, I was right at 1:49, so not too bad.  I have figured out a trick, to making long runs more bearable.  Run early, early in the morning.  Why you might ask, 3 reasons:

• It is Cooler, although I still think it was 100% humidity with no rain
• Sunrise, tell you what seeing the sunrise, gets me every morning
• Your body still thinks it asleep until mile 6.

Let me spend a second on the last point, because there has to be something to not being able to see where your going, seems to make the run go faster.  For some reason, I really did not feel fully awake until about 1 hour into the run, and then it was just a quick 5 mile run and I was home.  Although I do have to admit the loop and turnaround at the house was no fun.  My course was basically a 5.5 loop from house, and I did that twice to get to 11, so it was a good route, but turning around and going back out not all that fun.  

This weeks fun song, takes us back to the 80’s  with some sugar from Def Leppard

I have been asked what my cross training looks like, and why not just rest on Monday?  Let me tackle the second part first, the day after your long run is a very important day of recovery.  Noticed I said recovery not rest.  It is all about active recovery, and working the lactic acid out of the muscles.  I train on Monday’s mainly to prepare my legs for running for the week.  So I do not go real hard, but enough to wake them up.   So my workout this morning looked like this, it was about an hour long.  None of the weights I chose where near my max, once again just look at the cross train day, as a bit of a strength builder, and tune up for the week (next week I will talk about my upper and core):

• 15 minutes Elliptical machine (get legs loosened up)
• Leg Extensions and Curls (with push ups between sets)
• Leg Press
• Calve raises
• 1 leg assisted squats
• side lateral lunges
• Ball Hamstring Curls
• walking weighted lunge with a shoulder press

This weeks schedule:

One of my good friends, Kevin (who I have talked into running 13 with me next Sunday) sent me this inspirational link:, as promised here is the some bonus inspiration:

Have a great week and remember with anything in life:

"if you want to do it, all you have to do is do it"! 

Registration still appears to be the same from last week: full is at 65%, the half is at 77% and Goofy is at 70% registration!  http://espnwwos.disney.go.com/events/rundisney/wdw-marathon/

Happy Monday one and all!  I am VERY Pleased to announce Registration is Open for our Windows 7 Deployment Series!  The first event starts October 12th, with my good friend and teammate Brian Lewis, so register below now!   We are going to look at great and easy ways to Deploy Windows 7

Agenda (Description Below Registration Links):

• 8:00am       Continental Breakfast
• 8:30am       Session 1 - Can We Bust This Myth? "Its impossible to upgrade a Windows XP computer to Windows 7"
• 9:45am       Break
• 10:00am     Session 2 - Free Quick and Dirty Deployment Tools
• 11:00am     Break
• 11:15am     Session 3 - Automate your Windows 7 deployment using the MDT 2010
• 12:30 am    End

Click on the links below to register:

Description:

Join your Microsoft IT Evangelists for a free, half-day Firestarter event and hear firsthand how to upgrade from Windows XP to Windows® 7. See how to quickly get up and migrating both Windows 7 and Office 2010 with simple deployment tools, then exploring advanced deployment scenarios using the MDT 2010.

Session 1: Can We Bust This Myth? "Its impossible to upgrade a Windows XP computer to Windows 7"
In this fun, interactive session, we'll outline the available methods for moving your Windows XP machine to Windows 7 – while maintaining user data and settings and ensuring required applications are installed in the process. Can we bust this myth in 75 minutes or less? Join us and see for yourself!

Session 2: Free Quick and Dirty Deployment Tools
If you’re a tech of action and want to move now this session will show you how to get your hand dirty with free Microsoft deployment tools.  Planning: When planning your migration to Microsoft Windows 7 & Office 2010, specific knowledge about each PC on the network and its readiness for migration is essential. Here we will show you the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit which gathers essential infrastructure information to answer the question “Are my PCs ready for Windows 7 & Office 2010?”   Office 2010 Customization: After you create a network installation point, but before you install Office 2010, you can use the Office Customization Tool (OCT) to create a Setup customization file which enables unattended custom installations. Quick and Dirty Imaging: In this section we detail how to create and use the ultimate technician deployment tool. That’s right the bootable USB  drive with imaging tools. These tools enable you to sit at a machine and take or deploy an image at will.

Session 3: Automate your Windows 7 deployment using the MDT 2010
You don't have a handful of machines to deploy, you have hundreds – and you want to automate he process. The Microsoft Deployment Toolkit offers a configuration database that enables methodological automation of deployment configurations, allowing you to automatically assign properties based on target computer locations, makes and models, plus computer values. Take a deeper look at this MDT 2010 capability and learn how it can simplify your organization's deployments.

For more information or to register, visit > www.technetevents.com/firestarter   OR CALL 1-877-MSEVENT.

Hey it is football season, and I get a little excited.   I also get excited if your looking to get a new TechNet subscription, one of the coolest subscriptions on the planet!.  You can still save 25% discount for TechNet Professional subscriptions with TNITQ406  until 10-31-2010 (so hurry now)!!!  Just click this link:

Save 25% on a new TechNet Professional Subscription with TNITQ406

As some of you may know we announced the change to the subscriptions, you can learn more about the changes here:

Announced: New TechNet Subscription Names and Offerings

So by using TNITQ406 you can 25% on the TechNet Professional Subscription. 

Click here to get your TechNet Subscription:

Purchase a TechNet Professional Subscription

Then just enter the Promotion Code:  TNITQ406

If you have not checked out what you get with a TechNet Subscription here are a few of the benefits:

• Full-version software licensed for evaluation purposes; includes Microsoft operating systems, servers, and Office System software as well as Beta software: pre-release versions of Microsoft software to keep up to date on the latest technologies.
• Two (2) complimentary technical support incidents and a 20% discount on additional phone support incidents you purchase.
• And of course you still get the TechNet Library containing the Microsoft Knowledge Base, security updates, service packs resource kits, utilities, technical training, and product documentation to keep your systems and IT skills up to date!!!!

Some details about the offer:

So go get your TechNet Professional Subscription today, and remember use the promotion code: TNITQ406 to save 25%!!!!!!!!

This offer is only for NEW TechNet Subscription Professional orders only and is only valid for redemption in the US.  Offer is valid 10/31/10 subject to change

IE 9 beta  was announced today you can download it here: http://www.beautyoftheweb.com/ or click on the picture below.  To read more about check out this article at ZDnet:

Internet Explorer 9 beta review: Microsoft reinvents the browser 

Are you a student, do you know a student or are you going back to school and can you answer this question:

Which DNS Zone resolves IP address to a fully qualified host names?

A. Forward Lookup Zone
B. Reverse Lookup Zone
C. Stub Zone
D. DNS Zone

Well if you know the answer, then you’re ready to take the (see below to register):

Imagine Cup 2011 IT Challenge!

The object of this challenge is to highlight the art and science of developing, deploying, and maintaining IT systems that are efficient, functional, robust, and secure. Simply put, we want to see who really knows their stuff when it comes to IT systems. We’re talking genuine IT geniuses. Information technology experts. The best of the best. Think it’s you? Well, it just could be. 

Technology is everywhere. Of course, you probably knew that already. But we're ready to test your brainpower on some things you may not know. From having an intimate knowledge of massive enterprise infrastructures to managing diverse customer needs and scenarios, the IT Challenge puts the world's brightest technical minds to the test.

To enter the Imagine Cup 2011 IT Challenge you need to meet some requirements, the full list of requirements is located here:http://imaginecup.com/about/imagine-cup-2011-official-rules/?&mtag=DPE_mhester (under the eligibility requirements section)  Here are the two main requirements:

• You are 16 years of age or older; and
• You are actively enrolled as a student at an accredited educational institution that grants high-school or college/university (or equivalent) degrees (including home schools) at any time between January 1, 2010 and May 31, 2011; and … several more located here: http://imaginecup.com/about/imagine-cup-2011-official-rules/?&mtag=DPE_mhester

There will be 3 rounds of the IT Challenge competition.  Round 1 begins on September 22.  In round 1 you’ll take a timed, online quiz. There will be a total of eight quizzes. Take as many quizzes as you like, just make sure to score 15 or higher on one of them, and you’ll automatically advance to Round 2!  The 8 quizzes will be offered on the following dates at 12:01 AM GMT, and depending on where you live you may need to do some time conversion, I did a few for you:

• Quiz 1:  September 22, 2010   
  September 21, 2010 8:01 p.m. EST  (7:01 p.m. CST, 6:01 p.m MST, 5:01 p.m. PST) 
• Quiz 2:  October 19, 2010
  October 18, 8:01 p.m. EST  (7:01 p.m. CST, 6:01 p.m MST, 5:01 p.m. PST) 
• Quiz 3:  November 2, 2010
  November 1, 8:01 p.m. EST  (7:01 p.m. CST, 6:01 p.m MST, 5:01 p.m. PST) 
• Quiz 4:  November 18, 2010
  November 17, 8:01 p.m. EST  (7:01 p.m. CST, 6:01 p.m MST, 5:01 p.m. PST) 
• Quiz 5:  December 3, 2010
  December 2, 8:01 p.m. EST  (7:01 p.m. CST, 6:01 p.m MST, 5:01 p.m. PST) 
• Quiz 6:  December 15, 2010
  December 14, 8:01 p.m. EST  (7:01 p.m. CST, 6:01 p.m MST, 5:01 p.m. PST) 
• Quiz 7:  January 14, 2011
  January 13, 8:01 p.m. EST  (7:01 p.m. CST, 6:01 p.m MST, 5:01 p.m. PST) 
• Quiz 8:  January 31, 2011
  January 30, 8:01 p.m. EST  (7:01 p.m. CST, 6:01 p.m MST, 5:01 p.m. PST) 

Round 2

The goal of Round 2 is to take you beyond “book smarts” to showcase your practical understanding of technologies. In an essay-based case study format, you’ll test your ability to reason through and describe the architecture and method of implementation of a Microsoft networking environment. Oh, and be sure to check the IT Challenge Forum and IT Challenge Facebook page for helpful hints!

Finals:

Make it to the Worldwide Finals and your practical knowledge of IT solutions will be tested in a hands-on virtual lab. We’ll challenge you to build servers, server images, and configurations on a Hyper-V host server—all in a quick 24-hour period.

So are you ready for the Challenge Register Here and get ready for Quiz 1:

http://www.imaginecup.us/?&mtag=DPE_mhester 

Also please take a look here are the official rules for the IT Challenge: http://imaginecup.com/about/imagine-cup-2011-official-rules/?&mtag=DPE_mhester

Get the inside scoop, from Oliver Rist of the Microsoft Windows Server Marketing Team, on the best Windows Server social media spots. Matt and Oliver also discuss Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 new features: Dynamic Memory and RemoteFX. Tune in, and you'll also find out Captain America's birthday!

Happy Monday 1 week done and 17 to go!  This was a great week of training but I have to admit, it was weird week of training.  The family schedule took this week over and had to adjust my schedule and make some adjustments.  So my cross training on Monday was not done in the gym.  My lovely wife decided it was yard work day, so 4 hours of transplanting and digging holes, later, I considered cross training completed on Monday.

I was glad when Tuesday arrived and was thankful for the short 3 miles most of training leading up to the schedule has been 5-6 miles on a consistent basis.  I had a great early morning run on Wed. and was looking forward to the hills on Thursday.  Now I have never trained hills before, and the hill that was approved by my friend Jimmy is .3 of mile long and it is a steep grade, with a little extra angle at the top.  I knew it was going to be fun, I was excited to run them.  The excitement, quickly faded, and I mean quickly. In a word hills: suck.  I am glad I did them, but I am not looking forward to this Thursday, when I have to do them again.

When I asked Jim to remind why I have to do hills, his reply back was simple and to the point, BTW thanks for the continued motivation:

“You're doing it to get better so I don't embarrass you come January :-) “

So after my hills, I was ready for my 10, which I had to do on since my cross training wife was headed out of town.  To be honest I was a little worried, it was my 4th day of running in a row, and my longest run in a long while.  I went running with a friend, Stacey, she showed me a nice 2.5 mile trail nearby (5 mile round trip).  So away we went.  Stacey ran the first 5 with me, and I went back out to finish my 10, which ended up at: 1:35:15.  I was very happy, and I had a negative split.  It was great day, and thanks to Stacey for showing me the route!

Overall a great start to my training.  I get a lot of questions on how I run and train, and after my run in 2009, I became a believer in the Galloway method of running.  I do the run walk interval, which simply has you run for a period of time and rest for a minute (usually).  Click here Run Disney Training Consultant   or on the picture to the right to hear from Jeff Galloway about this method.  As a FYI, I normally run the first mile, to warm then then transition to a 4-1 or if I am feeling good I will go to 5-1, which is what I did for the second 5 on Friday.   So why do I train this way there are few simple answers to that:

1. Stay injury free
2. Run Faster
3. Recovery

The second one does not seem possible, but trust me, you will run faster times.  It seems silly, but I did not believe it until I did it, so next time you are going for a long run try it, from the very start, and see where you finish time wise.  I hope you will be surprised.  I have also found after a run I am not as sore for as long a time, as I normally would be.  So again check out the method, it may work for you!  So what is store for me this week, and no I am not happy about the hills on Thursday:

BTW, there is still room to join me if your up for the challenge as of today registration looks like this:  full is at 65%, the half is at 77% and Goofy is at 70% registration!

If you are tired of reading the same old stories like Green Eggs and Ham, The Giving Tree, or any book about Pooh.  You need to check out my buddy Chris’ story he reads to his kids:

Happy Friday!!!!!

Just announced we have a new tool to work for P2V desktops.  Simply put this tool will allow you to desktop virtualization to maintain legacy applications and still move users to Windows 7.The tool works with the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit and/or System Center Configuration Manager plus the Disk2VHD virtual hard disk solution from the Windows Sysinternals Web portal. It can package older Windows desktops into virtual machines that will run on Windows 7 PCs.

Read the article here: Microsoft Releases P2V Desktop Virtualization Beta

Wow, almost miss this post before the season starts tonight!  So last year I did better and I got 2 out my 5 right you can take a look here:

Matt Gets Better: Recap 5 bold NFL Predictions 2009

So with the reason right around the corner, I will try to do better!  So here are my 5 predictions!

1. San Francisco 49ers will make the playoffs.  When you look just at the division they are in, Seahawks, Cardinals, and Rams.  I really think this is their year, while I do not know how they will do in the playoffs, I know the will be in.  They area solid team overall, and the only question mark is Alex Smith which makes me worry about this prediction.
2. Green Bay Packers will be in the Super Bowl.  They have it all, talent, depth, and more importantly experience.  Aarons Rodgers, just seems to get better every year, and the defense is solid, and look for them not to do a whole lot.  With the offense going to score lots of points, and I mean lots of points.  They will beat the Saints in the NFC title game, to make it to the Super Bowl, but lose to prediction #5
3. No Lockout for 2011,   This is simple in my mind, there is two much on both sides of the equation to have another lockout,  Both sides will get this figured out before the end of the season or shortly after the season ends.  Not one of my typical predictions, but it is bold.
4. Jets will make AFC Title Game: I really like this team, or maybe it is the HBO in the hotel and hard knocks that has me all excited.  I like this team, and with Revis just resigning, I think they are going to be great on defense.  I also think Sanchez will be good going into his 2nd year, although this bucks the trend for the sophomore slump.  Why I like that, the Jets are a running team, with Greene, McKnight and hall a famer Tomlinson, they are going to a great running team.  While they will make the title game, they will fall one game short of the Super Bowl, because they are going to lose to the….
5. Cleveland Browns are going to win the Super Bowl!   Yeah I know I make this prediction every year and we finished last in the division.  However, we did finish with a  4 game winning streak.  I also think all the bad elements are out of the locker room, and we replaced inexperience with proven veterans.  I think the President Holmgren, he will look to keep the team solid and fundamentally sound.   We are going to surprise a lot of folks this year, and as always:  GO BROWNS!

Go Browns!

Feel free to fire away at my predictions, what else are you going to do before football starts tonight.  :-)

Well since I have already paid my money for the run, my brother-in-law is coming, and my wonderful wife has booked a family vacation around the Walt Disney World Marathon weekend, I think it time I start training for the run.  It is 18 weeks away, and it is time to get started (officially starts on 9-6).  This is my last weekend of freedom!

These post’s are going to be similar to what I did for the 2009 run.  I will share my running for the upcoming week, and talk about my running from the previous week.  A couple of things I will add to the posts from last year is hopefully going to provide some fun and interaction for you reading the post.  First, each post I will include a new picture (I took two disposable cameras) each week from my Walt Disney World Goofy Challenge in 2009.  Hopefully you smile and if your running Disney for the first time, may provide some extra motivation. 

Second is the song of the week, and this is where I need your help.  I want to know what you listen to on your long runs, or if a song comes makes you want to get up and jump around.  I hear what your hearing!  I will share the song on my next post, and make you an official honorary matt goofy training partner, and 10 bonus points.  :-) 

Seriously I am looking to update my music, and I hope you can help.

This week my song is Thunderstruck,by AC/DC (the live version) just a nice build up, and always a great way to start a run.

So here is week 1 of the training program:

As you may have noticed my program is slightly different this year.  A couple of reasons for the change

• Avoid Overtraining
• Want to go a little faster
• Jimmy approved it :-)

Really the last reason is why I did the changes, I want to run with my good friend Jim, not in front or behind and I want to keep up with him.  :-)  So we talked about reducing the Sat, runs and doing hills for speed and strength.  So when you see the 3 hills, you maybe wondering what that is for me.  By my house, and the start (go down) and finish (go up) I have a hill.  The hill is ~ 3 tenths of a mile long.  I will be breaking the hill into 3 stages from a running stand point (recovery on my walk back down the hill):

• Stage 1 50% speed
• Stage 2 85% speed
• Stage 3 110% and as my friend Brian says SPLODE

I am sure I will develop a name for it by the end of the 18 weeks.  If anyone has any names for my hill, just shout them out in the comment section!.  if you just got inspired by this post, there is still room!  The full is at 65%, the half is at 77% and Goofy is at 70% registration!  So come out and join me if your up for the challenge!

Alright Disney book time again.  This month’s book The Imagineering Way provides some great insight to unlock your inner child.   I promise I do not read just Disney books and while this months book was written by The Imagineers, I bought the book more for the jumpstarting my creative juices, than the Disney aspect of the book.   The book was more about how to unlock the creative juices in all of us, in a sense unlock your own imagineer.  Whether you are programmer, IT guy, writer, artist, or other area you all have had this terrifying moment:

The Blank Piece of Paper

Also known as the beginning of any project, or the point where you ask yourself what have you gotten yourself into.   The questions is what if your stuck and where do you start?  This book will give you some tips and insight into how some of the most creative folks on the planet handle the problem we all have encountered.

One of the aspects I loved about the book, it is a collection of stories and anecdotes from the Imagineers.  They share aspects from their lives growing up, projects at Disney and many other walks of life that helped shaped their creative nature.  They also talked about how to get past challenges to solve problems.  So you do not have to read the book in order, you can hop around and are encourage to do so!

Imagine if you went into a meeting and were told that you cannot say no to any idea presented in the meeting.  What if you had no fear your idea is going to be shut down.  The sky ois the limit, there is no budget, no limits and an immensely creative meeting.  Now we all have realities, and budgets are part of everything, but if it is a good idea, there is always a way to make it happen this is the Imagineers do to start projects.  This book talks all about this foster the culture of creativity that makes Disney such a magical place!

I loved this joke from the back of the book:

Q: How many Imagineers does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Does it have to be a light bulb?

So if you are looking to unlock your inner creative Figment, take a look at this book, good stuff!  If you have read it, let me know what you think and comment!

This is the last segment of the show  we talked about my book and the process of how I got involved in writing.  This was a fun segment, and we wrapped up the show.  We also chatted briefly about social media.  I got a lot of my understanding working with Wendy Meadley AKA SocialWendy, and I mentioned her by name in the segment.  She also has graciously offered a free executive tool kit for social marketing from www.socialfrontiers.com  All you need to do is share your name with Wendy and you will get a complimentary access code through 2010.   Just write Wendy at wendy@socialwendygroup.com or go to www.socialwendygroup.com and mention me or the radio show and she will provide the code/access.

As always let me know what you think, and please comment! 

• Learn more about Fuller Computer Solutions here: Fuller Computer Solutions
• Check out the interview with Wendy here: Interview: SocialWendy educates me on Social Marketing 
• Get the book:  Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Administration Instant Reference 

10 point bonus question, what is the song and band they used to begin the segment, btw it was my request and one of my favorite songs!