A guy who just found out he won the $27 million jackpot in a German lottery responded to the news by saying, “I don't have time to chat right now. I'm late for work.”

Although it comes off sounding odd, I can understand what he means. If I won a lottery, no matter how big, I would still go into work that day (and for the next little while) because I like the people I work with, and I would feel bad for them if my sudden departure causes them undue stress. 

No doubt, I would give my “two weeks notice“ that I intended to leave and would leave sooner than that if I could, but I wouldn't just “not show up” again. There's no excuse for doing that to people you consider friends.

When I first got into blogs and blogging 2 years ago, I used to read Robert Scoble religiously. He was interesting, sometimes funny, fairly informative, and casual. It definitely seemed like he was just a normal guy - who happened to work for Microsoft.

I especially liked some of the stories he used to tell. Like how he was on a plane the other day, and wouldn't you know it he was sitting next to the CEO of WhateverTech and they're really doing some cool stuff over there. Or how he stopped some guy in the airport because he was wearing a jacket with a Cisco logo on it. Perhaps I even admired his ability to just go anywhere and meet people, and come away with a name, an email address, and an interesting story...

Over the last year or so, something changed. I found myself spending less time reading what he was writing. I would immediately skip over topics that didn't interest me. The tone of his writing changed. I don't want to jump to conclusions over what exactly happened, but once he developed a “link blog“, I guess he had more space in his main radio blog to express his opinions on things.

Many of the things he expressed passionate opinions about, I just didn't care one way or another. He would simply lambaste a company repeatedly (like Google) for something completely inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. He became like my uncle, who writes letters to the government, outraged over the 30 minutes he had to wait to get his drivers license renewed every 5 years. Save your anger and indignation for something important, I say.

Several months ago, I just stopped reading. I still sometimes stumble upon his blog - once per month maybe - in my RSS reader. I can't bring myself to delete the subscription just yet. But almost.

Maybe the worst thing I am noticing is that many of his entries are about him. Like this example from today, with all of the self-congratulations. “Google did something good today. Hey I work for Microsoft? Why do I talk about the competition? Because we all win. Yay!” Ugh. Scoble, please, stop congratulating yourself for being different. It makes you look like the only reason you link to non-Microsoft blogs is so that someone will notice how you link to non-Microsoft blogs.

When he's not telling everyone what a great example he makes of corporate blogging, he's talking about how he fits in to important stories. He'll start talking about web standards, but then the real story he's telling becomes about how the commitee asked him for his help, and he was able to introduce them to someone on the IE team, and more people should come to him because he knows people. He actually questions the motives of standard commitees that don't come to him for help, because that proves they're not genuine...

“Call me. Here's my cell number. I am the only person who publishes their cell number on the Internet. This person linked to me. This person hates me, but I am linking to him anyways. I was intereviewed for the New York Times. I'm taking a 5-minute blogging holiday. I read 2,000 blogs a day.”

Don't get me wrong. I don't dislike him. I don't even know him. Maybe once I admired him, but now the annoyance factor has gotten really high. Scoble and I have grown apart. If he ever gets back to talking about interesting stuff that he reads, hears about, or even things happening in his personal life, AND can figure out how to tell these stories without it sounding “all about him“, I may come back.

I'm prepared to wait a long time though.

Here is a really helpful post on customizing process templates. The author links to a download on the Microsoft site called “Team System Extensibility Kit”. This kit contains XML schema, documentation and utilities to help in the customization of process methodology templates.

According to this article on CRN, Beta 2 of Team System will be released at the end of March or first week of April. This beta will come with two predefined process methodologies: MSF Agile and CMMI.

MSF for Agile Software Development (or MSF Agile for short) is a “scenario-driven, context-based, agile software development process”. It is, basically, the extreme programming (XP) model for software development, adapted to fit the Microsoft Solutions Framework. It is sometimes called a lightweight model, in that it is both flexible and adaptable. These types of programming models are great for small projects, or projects that have to be completed quickly.

MSF for CMMI Process Improvement (or MSF CMMI for short) is aimed at “mature application development“. It is a more formal model for development, requiring a more rigid processes be put into place. There are many CMMI models to choose from, and so a development team (typically a large project, with a longer development timeframe) can choose what is best for them.

Of course, you can still choose to implement NO software development model, or customize your own model. VSTS gives you many options in this regard.

Here's a fresh article indicating that the next team system beta (officially, Beta 2) is coming soon, and the product itself should be available “after the summer”.

Microsoft developer division corporate VP S Somasegar, said, "We shipped the beta last summer, we are going to ship another beta in the next month or so and we hope to be able to ship the product after summer sometime this year."

I guess the good news is that it sounds like progress is still being made in getting the product to a releasable state. The bad news, I guess, is that the final ship date is deliberately vague: “after summer”. Hmm, is that Fall? Or Winter?

I enjoy taking pictures, and I strive to improve my skills in this area. With the advent of the digital camera, it's getting easier than ever to make good pictures.

So, with that I launch my photo blog, here:
http://scottspictures.blogspot.com

I'm not saying I am any good, but I have some pictures I am particularly proud of, and so I will upload them there instead of here.

I think we can all agree that there is no greater dream that parents have today for their young children than they one day will go to college or university. Movies and TV tell us that once a kid gets into college, everything will be all right. They will find a good job, marry a good spouse, and be able to provide a good living for their family... and live happily ever after.

One investment product that is sold to parents in Canada to exploit this dream is the Registered Education Savings Plans (RESPs). An RESP is, simply, a tax-sheltered method of saving for a child's post-secondary education. The government of Canada even kicks in 20% matching contribution to get parents to invest.

What a scam.

What parents need to look out for is fees. Two in particular: enrollment fees, and early termination fees. Look at these fees, and look hard. Sit down with a calculator and figure out what will cost you. Don't rely on what the sales agent says, demand a written document. Because nothing a sales agent “says” (that isn't written down) matters. I am tempted to remove the phrase “that isn't written down“ from the last sentence -- nothing a sales agent “says” matters.

Only 25% of Group RESP plans survive until maturity. The rest are cancelled early (either transferred to another company, or the family finances change, or they move out of the country, or any number of reasons...) So when you do your calculations, figure that it is more likely that you will cancel than you will ever see the scholarship. They sell the dream of the scholarship, but the big trap is when you cancel.

Let me give you an example. Let's say you agree to buy 5 units of a group RESP. Each unit pays $1,700 per year at maturity, so your savings should provide $8,500 per year which is what Canadian university might cost in 18 years. A plan such as this might require $100 per month invested towards the plan.

Enrollment fee: 5 units @ $200 per unit = $1,000

At $100 per month, the enrollment fee alone will be 10 months of your investment. After 15 months @ $100 per month, you will only have $500 in savings.

OK, let's say you continue on for 10 years. After that time, you have invested $12,000. But after 10 years, you wish to switch you plan from the original company (who has had lousy customer service during this time) to another company who treats you better. So you intitiate a transfer. After the original company does all the calculations, they send $6,000 to the new company, after all fees have been deducted (annual fee, management fee, transfer fee, termination fee, forfeit of interest earned, etc.).

Do you see? You invest $12,000 expecting a decent annual return, and you end up with only $6,000. So you can expect to lose almost all your money if you terminate within 5 years, and half your money if you terminate within 10 years. Great investment, huh?

But they advertise these things as a great investment - 13% annual return. That's only if you stay til the very end. Despite how bad the company treats you, and how they waste everyone else's money... if you stay til the end, you will get your scholarship and do pretty well. But remember, less than 25% make it til the end.

The real shame is that I have seen at least one case where a customer does stay til the end. And only after the final payment has been made, and it comes time for the company to cut the first check. The company, of course, does an audit of all the payments and fees made to the account, and informs the family that they missed a payment 6 years ago. And although they made up for the missed payment, they did not pay the late payment fee ($10). And unfortunately, it is now too late to pay the fee (as the plan as entered maturity), and so the company will NOT pay the scholarship and simply refund the original investment (minus fees of course). And so you pay money for 18 years, make it til the very end, enroll in univeristy and wait for your RESP to pay out, find out you missed one fee of $10, and at the end of the day, you are worse off than if you simply stuffed the money under a mattress for 18 years.

So, buyer beware. Beware of RESP companies, and their hidden fees. Stick with the big banks if you must. The government should do something about these RESP scams.