So, is the thursday schedule permanent?

"So, is the thursday schedule permanent?"

Not sure yet. Not much at .NET Rocks *is* :)

We're currently experimenting with different ideas in terms of content, scheduling, etc.. Trying to find the combos that work best for the listeners.

If it turns out that Thursdays don't work as well, then we'll have to figure something else out :) Just a lot of trial and error, really.

So, who knows... We'll see.

Well, personally I hope it returns to Friday. I love to listen to the show live, but this thursday I'm going to my first Portland Area .NET User Group meeting. Figured it was time to do some community networking.

Thursday nights is much better for me, personally. I could never listen during the day -- there is no set "lunch hour" at my job.

Besides, I always wondered how Carl handled the Friday schedule when he had a class to teach.

This should be a great show. Don knows his stuff.

Don, can I get your autograph at the next N3UG meeting? *swoon*

Hey, I'm presenting at the next N3UG! A very basic topic, encrypted connection strings, based on the code I added to GotDotNet and which Steve Maine helped make much faster and better.

yep, a bit of a conflict with this thursday's padnug meeting, but that's what the recordings are for. the other weeks all portland nerds will be tuned into their computers to listen to dnr live.

coolness.

"So, is the thursday schedule permanent?"

It is for now

How's that for a political answer?

We know it doesn't work for some of you, but we think many more listeners can listen on a weeknight. Since everyone has something to do on at least one weeknight, we knew we'd be leaving some behind, so we chose the night that works best for us. That's Thursday.

We'll see how it goes. :-)

Ok, this is unrelated to this posting, but the CIA is watching you, Rory!

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1471&ncid=1471&e=4&u=/ibd/20040427/bs_ibd_ibd/2004427tech

"yep, a bit of a conflict with this thursday's padnug meeting"

I am looking forward to this, and meeting everyone.

So, does Carl have a kegerator in the studio, or is it a no drinking zone? http://donxml.com/allthingstechie/archive/2004/04/26/625.aspx

Don -

"So, does Carl have a kegerator in the studio, or is it a no drinking zone?"

I just talked to Carl about it, and we've agreed that there should be booze involved.

I won't be able to join you, though, as I'm still on a diet of antibiotics, but I'm kind of a loud idiot without drinking, so I should blend right in :)

I'm going to keep drinking to minimum in the studio. I don't like having drinks all around all that expensive audio equipement. But that is just me, liquids and electronics don't mix IMHO.

Maybe I am a wet blanket, but I really hope .NET Rocks! does not start turning into a "Wayne's World". I'd rather see it become more professional. Joking around is fun, but I get so tired of the off color jokes and inferences. I want to hear about .NET!

"around is fun, but I get so tired of the off color jokes and inferences."

I'm casting my vote for the current format, I love the 'phunnies' and I feel they make the show more enjoyable.

"Rory's World! Rory's World! Excellent!"

DarrenS -

"Maybe I am a wet blanket, but I really hope .NET Rocks! does not start turning into a 'Wayne's World'. I'd rather see it become more professional. Joking around is fun, but I get so tired of the off color jokes and inferences. I want to hear about .NET!"

While I understand where you're coming from, the increased downloads and popularity of the show seem to indicate that you might be in the minority here.

If you'd like a dry, straightforward "Here's some .NET," then I'd suggest a book, or some other .NET show. We're trying to have a good time, and the show is just as much about the *people* as it is about .NET, if not more so.

I don't want you to think that I'm lightheartedly dismissing your comment, either - I thought a *lot* a couple weeks ago about my involvement in the show and whether or not I've helped bring anything good to the table, and my conclusion is that .NET Rocks would just be another boring way of getting boring info out to developers if it didn't throw some color in.

It's like conferences. My first priority is to meet people and talk to people to see what they're up to. While I like to get the "bird's-eye-view" of the tech that conferences and such provide, the reality is that I'm going to get much more out of the docs when I go back home. The conference really just provides me with an introduction and some context to get started.

.NET Rocks is *not* a .NET training program. You will learn something by listenting to the shows, absolutely, but you aren't going to suddenly become Super Developer just by listening.

Anyway, there are *so* many sources of information for .NET that we *need* something like .NET Rocks, where we can just get together, talk about the stuff, and have a good time.

That said, some guests are much more technical than others. Listen to the shows with Chris Sells, Scott Hanselman, Bill Vaughn, and others - there's great stuff in there. Then, for the other side of the fence, which is every bit as important to some of us, listen to Bob Reselman, Alan Cooper, and others for broader, sometimes social issues.

Nobody's forcing you to listen to the show every week, and you have your choice of past episodes from the archive. If you don't like the opening segments, then shoot me an email so that I can explain the concept of "Fast Forward" to you.

I don't even know why I'm answering at such length. The point is this: .NET Rocks is not going to become "more professional" for one simple reason: we have our entire lives ahead of us to act like stiff corporate drones with black and white thoughts. We're not going to behave that way on our *personal* time, too (which is when we do the show).

If you'd like to cut a deal, though, here's what I have to offer: Let me into your life and your home so that I can tell *you* how to live. Then, when you aren't performing according to my standards, I'll complain about it, even though I'm not paying you for your services.

Sound good? If so, then just let me know when you want to begin. In exchange, I'll cut out a few of the "off color jokes," and I'll announce on the show that I'm wearing a tie.

Is Don going to get to sing a song?

Uh, Rory, um, I completely agree with your post to DarrenS, but I think your antibiotics are making you a bit grouchy ;)

If you offer to come into people's homes to tell them how to live, I'm afraid some people may take you up on that offer, just to say that "Rory was in my house!" Be careful what you offer your readers -- we're not very normal.

Mark -

"I think your antibiotics are making you a bit grouchy"

:) I've been feeling a bit beat lately, and I'm sure that whatever sickness I have right now isn't helping.

I probably have some pent-up energy, too, from not going out as much, and I guess it has to go *somewhere*...

Rory, don't worry, spending a weekend in NYC will definitely use up all that pent-up energy. I think a ride on the famous NYC subway will do wonders for you: http://donxml.com/grokthis/archive/2004/04/27/633.aspx

Rory, you are entirely right. I do not have to listen. And if the show hits my nerves on a consisted basis I just won't listen anymore. I have been listening to .NET Rocks! from almost the beginning, 2nd or 3rd show, and have not missed a live Friday yet. Hey, it's Carl's and your show. You guys have the audience that you have to please, not me. I like fun, but I've been out of college for 17 years and have been married for 15!! (Boy time flies!) I have certainly 'mellowed'. (But I am not ready for a mid-life crisis yet.)

Maybe not being able to listen live (us old married people have to go to bed early) is the best thing for me. You cannot fast-forward live streams!

As for telling you how to live your life...
One of my life's rules is whatever you do behind closed doors is your business, but you better put your clothes on before you walk out the front door 'cause I don't want to see your business. You and Carl both ask for our honest comments. Well that was my honest comment. So you can take it or leave it.

I don't want to get into verbal fisticuff with you over this. It's not worth it. Peace.

DarrenS -

"As for telling you how to live your life...
One of my life's rules is whatever you do behind closed doors is your business, but you better put your clothes on before you walk out the front door 'cause I don't want to see your business."

One of *my* rules about life is to understand what I'm getting into and take responsibility for it.

If I listen to a show, or encounter a magazine, and it offends me on some level, then I just don't go back. I might have something to say about it, but it's no good going to the source if it's obvious that the source is just "that way."

When someone walks out on there front lawn naked, it's one thing. You might be driving by, or you might be the mail deliver person, or whatever. You'd be the victim of a spontaneous, unannounced one-person festival of nudity. Although nudity doesn't offend *me*, I can see how it might make other people uncomfortable, and I wouldn't want to head out on my lawn naked and make you feel weird.

*However*

It's tough to accidentally pick up a .NET Rocks stream or accidentally download a .NET Rocks show.

If the stuff offends you, then there are other, dryer offerings out there from other people.

I understand as well that you like fun, but that, as you say, you've "mellowed." Obviously, though, *we* haven't mellowed :) We aren't going to be changing *that* aspect of the show anytime soon. I tried doing it on the recent architecture/SOA show, and it went very poorly. Carl might as well have had a laser printer for a co-host. It just wasn't good.

"You and Carl both ask for our honest comments. Well that was my honest comment. So you can take it or leave it."

Well, that was a couple weeks ago, and in a different post. If you had left your comment in *that* post, then I would have just taken it quietly.

In this post, however, where there wasn't any discussion at all along these lines, it felt a little weird.

"I don't want to get into verbal fisticuff with you over this. It's not worth it. Peace."

I agree, and I wouldn't have said anything, but:

1) You caught me on a bad day (Mark Freedman was quite right about that)

- and -

2) In terms of the content of the post in which you commented, it boiled down to an unsolicited "Hey - why don't you guys just stop being yourselves so that I can enjoy the show" comment. I can handle it if I've asked for it, but when they just come along out of the blue, I'm going to react [shrug].

So, whatever happens, if you stop listening, then I understand. It's what I'd do if the show bothered me (in fact, I've stopped listening to things that I consider to be too devoid of personality, which just goes to show that it takes all kinds).

If you keep on listening, then good, but don't sweat the small stuff. When *we* make asses out of ourselves for the small kicks and pleasure it brings us, it doesn't bring *you* down a notch. When the show's over, you're still DarrenS, and you can walk away from it unscathed (I *think*). It's just such a small issue that it's starting to wear at my patience (you're not the first person to have mentioned something along these lines to me - just the first since I've decided to stop being extremely diplomatic about it).

I do the show because I love it. If I have to change the way I do it to the point that it isn't fun anymore, then it's not worth it for me.

... .- ..-. .-.. . .. ..-. .- -- .--.

Check out my hubby on .NET Rocks this *Thursday*

Check out my hubby on .NET Rocks this *Thursday*