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Note: These are key words and phrases that I captured on my scratchpad. Jotting them down for myself. Might help you.

The SIG met at http://Syntactica.com office. We had over a dozen attendees. Brian Sletten, Dan McCreary, Loren Cahlander, Henry of Syntactica, Dave Peterson, Arun Batchu, Brian Parker, Jason Titus, Tom Mckee, Jesse, Dave A, Paul Weidel, Jay Myers, Chase (my apologies to those who I missed mentioning).

[http://kateray. …

You are invited to the Kickoff Meeting

Guides:
Brian Sletten http://www.nofluffjuststuff.com/conference/speaker/brian_sletten

Dan McCreary http://danmccreary. …

Jonathan Livingstone Seagull is an inspiring story about a young gull who achieves great flying capabilities through inner desire and deliberate practice. His actions are outside the norms of his flock, causing him to be outcast. Undeterred, he continues his journey of continuous improvement and meets other equally capable gulls who teach him further skills. Having achieved outstanding capabilities, Jonathan Livingston Seagull returns to Earth and mentors other willing gulls like him.

So,

Are you Jonathan Livingston Seagull?

No? Don't think so? Perhaps you are and you may not know it. Almost every person I have met, is passionate about some thing. It may not be what you are currently pursuing - it may be something latent. It is something you dream about. It is something you dream about doing now, if all the obligations that weigh you down were to magically go away. Something that you would en-joy doing it. Something you can see yourself passionate-ly get consumed with.

Pursue that passion

That passion you just identified has the potential to help you excel and excellence usually gets rewarded very well. The story of Jonathan Livingston Seagull by the fighter pilot Richard Bach is definitely a great story to read.

Ken Robinson - a respected educator encourages everybody to find their Element - the passion where time, effort disappears and is replaced by sheer joy. His book is full of examples of passion meeting success.

Marcus Buckingham - a bestselling author and speaker argues that we need to identify our top 5 strengths and focus on them. Each of us are unique and have a unique combination of these strengths. Leveraging these strengths, we can all become Jonathan Livingston Seagulls.

If you become one, let me know - I would like to celebrate with you.

The Inspiration - the books

Gary Jedynak and I presented at http://otug.org on April 20th on how to make Mentoring - both short-term and long-term generally more accessible. The presentation is now available here. Get involved as a mentor or mentee! We need you

If you are like me, you realize a good relationship's worth when you get away from it.

My love for the power of the wiki and its sterling exemplar - Atlassian's Confluence product increases everytime I am forced to use some other wiki service. Confluence has QWAN. Some beautiful things can only be experienced.

Thoughtworks' Mingle is a damn good tool for getting a grip on a fast-paced project. But, boy its wiki has so much to learn from Confluence. Unfortunately, …

I use MindMaps to flush an idea. A wonderfully flexible, full-brain experience that helps in ideation, theory building and developing key interrelationships in domain concepts.

Here are a few software tools I have used. Each product has its strengths. Its a tool, use the right one and don't get too religious about any. Be free.

• http://mindjet.com
  • Highly Capable; Feature-rich Powertool.
  • Leading brand; premium price

• Online for collaboration: http://mindmeister.com
  • Collaboration is increasingly important in this shared world. I am willing to trade-off features in exchange for collaborative enablement.

• Free and Opensource : http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page
  • Good for a start. Lacks finesse. Great for academic projects and low-cost scenarios. However, I do not use it in professional, high-quality situations.

• iphone: http://www.ithoughts.co.uk/iThoughts/Welcome.html
  • Surprisingly slick and smooth tool. Use it extensively on the iphone to harness idle time for helping flush ideas.

• Bubbls: http://bubbls.us
  • Its fast and slick. I drew my first mind map pretty quickly. Still very much in beta but promising.

FYI: St. Thomas is hosting information sessions on Tuesday, April 13th
(at 5:30 p.m.) and Saturday, May 8th (at 10 a.m.).

See the details here: http://www.stthomas.edu/gradsoftware/files/GPS_InfoSession_2010.pdf

http://www.hamptonnews.net/2010/03/humphrey-institute-honors-dakota-county.html
Played a role in this happening. Like a lone nut, it felt very cold and lonely out there. The architectural approach is as unique and trail-blazing as the vision of the Business-value proposition itself.

Not only to see it going into production, but to receive an award is validation for many lone nuts. Having Dakota as the first follower is indeed sweet music. …

Here is a presentation I gave at the Atlassian User Group (first one) yesterday. It was fun to see the interesting dimensions of how people were using Confluence ( and other Atlassian products) to co-create value. My presentation and demonstration speaks from the perspective of the Collaborative Architect whose goal is to catalyze the Team phenomenon.

Harnessing Human Potential is one of the biggest competitive edges that any organization can exploit. …

Hopefully this quick writeup will help someone to deal with JSON in Java.
Json.org Java