Can't believe it's been a month since my last post. I have got to start paying attention to my Outlook reminders.

Speech Community site
I do have an excuse, sort of. I actually spent the good part of August piecing together something called the Microsoft Speech Server Community site, which will be a central location for customers to access information and share ideas about Speech Server. The site has sections for newsgroups, blogs, articles, webcasts, downloads, as well as a few other links.

Now, don't get on to me because the site looks rather...um...stoic. I've had a bit of experience designing and building websites, and, while I'm no Vincent Flanders, I do know how to put together a nice looking site. But the MSS Community site is a corporate page, ok? My hands were tied by the stringent internal standards that Microsoft requires for all web pages that appear anywhere south of www.microsoft.com. You got your branding in the top banner, and you got your requisite menu items in the left column, not to mention the entire page's color scheme. Still, it was a long time coming, and I'm glad we finally got it launched. If other similar pages (e.g. Smartphone, Movie Maker, Pocket PC) are any indication, the site will act as a meeting place for our burgeoning community of speech professionals.

So now Speech Server is a community player, at least among Microsoft products. Take a look at the all-new Speech Server Community site when you get a minute.

Heads down
In addition to the Community site, I've been busting it to meet a documentation deadline. Tech writing stuff, you know. When you write docs for a yet-to-be-released product, you're almost always writing ahead of the product. That means you have to write "to spec," with the understanding that the product doesn't actually work to spec at the moment, or even close to spec. So I'm essentially writing about the way the product will eventually work, not the way it works (or doesn't work, as the case may be) right now. And just to make my life a tad more difficult, the spec and product may change halfway through the production cycle, which means that my docs will have to change. Sometimes a lot. Sometimes at the last minute.

I'm not complaining, mind you. I've got a good job and I appreciate the opportunity. But some days require more coffee than others. Today is one of those days.

Cup o' Joe
Today's coffee flavor: Starbuck's Gold Coast and Tupinamba Torrefacto
Result: Light, but it packs a bite. A 4 oz. cup was all I could handle, and I feel like I'm typing about 50% faster than normal.