Monthly Archives: September 2004

Moving on from Accessibility

Posted on by
Reply

On September 1st, I stepped down from my role on the Visual Studio Accessibility Team. This month marked my 3 year anniversary working on Accessibility. I feel that I have done everything that I could do in this space. And I saw such passion and dedication coming from members of my Accessibility Leadership Team that it just made sense to step-aside and let them take over.

To keep the Accessibility momentum going, we’ve created the Visual Studio Accessibility Blog. You’ll find all the most interesting articles and posts from my Accessibility category over on the VSAccessibility blog in an easy to read format.

I still meet with the leadership team every couple of weeks to help them with any questions, bugs, or issues that arise to ensure a smooth transition.

As for what is next for me, alongside owning the editor, I’m going to investigate white-box testing. Also, I want to be a test lead when I grow up, so I’m looking into taking management courses and assisting in such roles.

My thoughts on Stephen King’s The Dark Tower VII – This article contains Spoilers!

Posted on by
1

Warning! This article contains spoilers. If you haven’t finished reading The Dark Tower Book VII, leave now!

Special thanks to The Dark Tower Forums. Some of the ideas in my theory about the ending come from there. Although the ideas were on the tip of my tongue, I couldn’t actually put them into words until I read them on those forums. But what Roland finds at the top of the dark tower comes directly from me.

—————————————-

—————————————-

!!!!!!!!!SPOILERS BELOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

—————————————-

—————————————-

How many times I cried

  • When Pere died.
  • When Jake called Roland “Father”, and Roland open his arms to Jake.
  • Eddie’s last words before dying.
  • The entire chapter “In the Haze of Green and Gold” specifically,
    • Jake telling Mrs. T., “tell my father I love him” before dying
    • Roland’s funeral speech and Oy’s “I Ake!”
    • Oy deciding not to die alongside Jake’s grave
  • Oy’s death
  • When Roland reached the tower and called out the names of all those who died during his quest. That was the greatest moment in all of The Dark Tower series.
  • Susannah in New York – I cried knowing that Eddie and Jake were okay and together, although I didn’t care anything about Susannah’s happiness.
  • When Roland begged for mercy and pity from the Tower and Gan.

My Favorite Parts

  • The man in black / Walter’s death. Having loved The Stand, I was absolutely shocked by his death and totally freaked out by the way he died.
  • The ka-tet’s reunion in Experimental Station 16
  • The 3 SKs at the Red King’s Castle palaver
  • Roland’s speech upon reaching the dark tower

My Thoughts on the Dark Tower and the Ending

The Dark Tower epic is about Roland’s most important loop in the Tower – his second to last. Roland actually made it to the tower in his first trip – he’s just been stuck in it ever since. The Tower is allowing him to redeem himself and make up for all those he has sacrificed in his journey to the Tower. We can only imagine what Roland did and how many people died to reach the Tower the first time. Through repetition, the Tower teaches Roland that there are more important things in this world than just reaching the Tower.

On this second to last trip, we hear Roland’s thoughts when he is reunited with Jake in The Drawing of the Three, “No Jake, I’ll never let you drop again. But then again Roland wonders if that is true.” In Book VII, Roland decides in the truck on the way to save SK that he will die in Jake’s place. However, Ka intervenes, Roland’s leg gives out, and Jake jumps in front of the runaway truck. His willingness to die to keep Jake safe is his saving grace and breaks the loop once and for all.

This time in the loop it will be different and it will be his last trip to the Tower. We know this because of how SK chose to put the poem “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came” at the end of the book right after the coda. According to the poem, Roland blows his horn at the base of the dark tower.

Roland has been drawing the same Jake, Susannah, and Eddie on each loop. How else could they have these skills? Also, the first time they were on horseback, Eddie thought he had done all of this before. There are probably many other hints throughout the books, but I don’t have the time to reread them all.

And lastly, what is at the top of The Dark Tower?

After Roland calls the names of all he’s lost, he blows his horn at the base of the Dark Tower. The doors open for him for the final time. He walks into the Tower and sees the symbols from all the critical moments on his life and throughout every trip to The Dark Tower. Slowly he starts to realize just how old he really is and just how many times he’s been to the dark tower as he examines every room. When he reaches the top, the door, instead of saying Roland, it says, “Redemption”. As he opens the door, he hears the sound of his horn reverberate throughout the Tower, possibly blown by Gan himself. He sees every name he called at the base of the tower smiling at him, including his father, his mother, Cort, Vannay, Curberth, Alan, Susan, and his ka-tet, even the one with the gold-rimmed eyes.

Roland runs towards their outstretched hands as they stand in the clearing at the end of the path.

Tell SK thankya for such a great series of books.

Long days and pleasant nights.

View original comments

3 years = 3 dozen M&M cookies

Posted on by
Reply

Friday last week marked my 3 year anniversary at Microsoft. I’ve been telling people that I’m starting my senior year on the Visual Studio team, to which people reply, “what happens when you graduate?” I tell them “grad school, I guess.”

My feature area ownerships over the past 3 years:

  • Environment SDK Samples
  • Driving Accessibility
  • Visual Studio Integration Program
  • PIAs (only for a few months)
  • Text Editor Object Model (only for a few months)
  • Profiles – aka VS Settings found in the Tools – Import / Export Settings dialog (my first feature from M0 – meaning that I owned it before it was coded)
  • Window Management, including tool window docking, IDE Navigator, etc.
  • Command Window, Immediate Window
  • Driving the UI Consistency Testing effort
  • And now the Editor

Features left on the VS Core Product Unit I haven’t owned yet

  • Anything with Project / Build / Solution
  • Anything with MS Build
  • Anything with Source Code Control

I guess I’m more than half-way there to have owned all of VS Core at one point in time

I’ve moved to the Editor team!

Posted on by
Reply

Ever since I started at Microsoft on the Visual Studio team, I’ve always wanted to own the editor. You can’t have a development environment without an editor, so I’m really excited to own such a critical aspect of Visual Studio.

Some of my new feature areas ownerships within the Editor include:

  • Statement Completion
  • Intellisense, like quick tips and parameter info
  • Tracking Changes
  • Incremental Search
  • Fonts and Colors
  • Basic Editor Functions, like Cut, Copy, Past, Undo, Redo, etc.
  • Editor Emulations like Brief and Emacs
  • Code Snippets (not the actual content of the code snippets, but the mechanism in which you apply and edit the snippets)
  • And more!

As I learn more about the Editor, I’ll start blogging about new features, tips and tricks, and so forth. But in the meantime, what topics regarding the Editor would you like me to blog about or would like to see in the future once I’m caught up with my new feature ownerships?

View original comments

As Hurricane Ivan approaches my hometown, I’m forced to watch the action from Seattle

Posted on by
Reply

It’s a rite of passage on the Gulf Coast to be a part of a major hurricane. Most of the people I’ve talked to today think I’m crazy that I wish I were home for Ivan. But they have never lived through hurricanes like we gulf coasters have. There’s something about hurricane parties, no matter how young or old you are. I was 8 or 10 when Elena hit – the biggest hurricane I’ve lived through. I think it was a Category 3. I thought it was great how the family really came together to help each other with preparations, like getting gas, stocking up on food and water, and having one big slumber party in the hallways away from the windows. There is nothing like walking through the grocery store and seeing aisles completely bare (all bread, bottle water, batteries, etc all sold out). Once the hurricane hits and the power goes out, all of the adults start playing games with you to pass the time. A week later, when the power does come on, there’s another big party. And, you’re actually excited when you are finally able to go back to school.

I love hearing stories about Hurricane Camille. It destroyed all of the Mississippi Gulf Coast back in ‘69. I grew up looking at before and after Camille photos everywhere. Some of my favorite Camille stories collected are about how the Bay St. Louis bridge broke in 3 parts where you had to turn to get to the next part (the bridge is otherwise just a straight line). Or how the hurricane eye flew over my hometown where they could look up and see blue sky, but on the horizon was a wall of tornados that sounded like 5 trains approaching.

I’ve been monitoring www.weather.com from time to time, and of course, watching the weather channel at 10 till the hour for the latest update. I’m missing my Hurricane Tracking chart, which for some reason, you cannot pick up at the local grocery store up here. <grins>

I spoke with my Mom on Tuesday around 2pm CST. They are going to ride out the hurricane in my hometown, so best of luck to them. My hometown is Waveland, MS which is about 30 minutes east of the LA / MS border.  Can’t wait to see the photos of all the action, and i’m hoping that when i come home in November, most of the buildings i remember are still there.

View original comments