Rick Claus (RicksterCDN)

It does! It sells out every year. We’ve had folks show up with cash in hand trying to get in! It’s limited seating, first come first serve… Hope to see you there!

Jeff Woolsey (@wsvguy.bsky.social) told me the Windows Server Pre-Day at Microsoft Ignite sells out EVERY year. 4 hours with the engineering team on Mon Nov 16 – Hyper-V, Windows Admin Center, storage, networking, and what's next. Register for Ignite + add the Pre-Day: ignite.microsoft.com

Monday Oct 19, 9am PT – Ayan Gupta and I are LIVE for the Defend the Tenant Challenge Pre-Game Show. What to expect, how to prep, your questions answered. Up to $10K in prizes.* Are you in? Save your seat: www.linkedin.com/events/75162... *T&Cs apply

Bailie was getting a bit bossy, but it was too early to feed them. I guess you can figure out who won this one.

I’m A pancake eating co working friend and I approve this message. I bring real Canadian Maple Syrup to each edition.

Grabbed some footage using the phone while traveling through Utah and Death Valley on days 6 & 7 of the #advcannonball All wrapped up, flew home, many hours of footage to go through. 5000+ miles, 8 days, 14 states. #WhatARide

Incognito mode at the office today.... Working on Content plans around Azure Local / Sovereign Cloud and practical AI stuff for infrastructure folks.

Active Directory has been part of my career since Windows 2000. Orin Thomas just updated 24 Microsoft Learn modules – beginner to advanced. AMAZING. Yup - this stuff is STILL relevant. On-Prem and Hybrid is very much still alive. Blog post with all the details: aka.ms/AA138aju

I got a job offer today! What do you think, should I respond?

Someone got ahold of an empty can food can this morning…

I loved building a Linux distribution as an engineer, contributing to Fedora, and before that as a Security Product Manager. I’m looking for new opportunities that contributing to open-source projects, in roles like Solutions Architect, Forward-Deployed Engineer, Dev Relations Engineer, or Product.

Tell me you are in a Canadian Hotel without out saying you are staying in a Canadian hotel….

AI isn't free - it runs on tokens, and tokens are the meter on your Azure bill. @soniacuff.com and I break down what a token actually is, why AI costs spike, and how to keep the bill under control - on the latest Update & Restart. Full Episode: www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmkR... ---

Same Copilot. Same task. Totally different results. The difference is your PROMPT. @soniacuff.com and I break down better prompting for IT pros - with real Microsoft 365 Copilot examples - on the latest Update & Restart. Steal the patterns. Full episode: www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4ge... ---

Same Copilot. Same task. Totally different results. The difference is your PROMPT. @soniacuff.com and I break down better prompting for IT pros - with real Microsoft 365 Copilot examples - on the latest Update & Restart. Steal the patterns. Full episode: www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4ge... ---

Paying for three load balancers to run three sites on AKS? Stop. The MAIS09 demo runs Contoso, Fabrikam and Adventure Works behind ONE AGC public IP - three routes, three 200s. Both GA. Read Pierre's summary, watch the embedded session for the details. techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/itopsta...

Nobody approved a swarm of AI agents - but your org probably has them anyway. @soniacuff.com and I dig into AI agent governance for IT teams on the latest Update & Restart. Who owns them? Who holds the permissions? 9 min, no hype. Full video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=doS4...

So. Much. This! Institutional knowledge and relationships. Gone. Ugh.

Happy Canada day folks! Reminder to go touch grass and have a shot of maple syrup. Was off riding this weekend and still represent wherever I go.

Timeline cleanse for your Sunday because this shows up in my photos randomly for some reason…😂

Everyone's building AI agents. Way fewer talk about who runs the infra underneath them at 2am. My teammate @vrapolinario.bsky.social built an open-source repo + hands-on workshop for exactly that crowd – IT/Ops running AI on Azure. AKS, Key Vault, monitoring, governance. github.com/microsoft/AI...

We've done this before – kix32 scripts, then the PowerShell revolution. The next step is agent-level work. On the new Update and Restart I dig into Azure Copilot in Agent mode – think augmenting your team, not toy demos. Full Episode: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYF5...

AI Skills Fest is on RIGHT NOW – June 8–12. A virtual festival for every role: mainstage talks, live learning on LinkedIn, and the Agents League Hackathon. Finish a skilling playlist by Friday for a badge and Free cert exam! Stay curious – jump in: aiskillsnavigator.microsoft.com/events/AISF2...

How it started and how it ended. We'll look back at this at some point and see it as a day of adventure motorcycle riding: avoiding the rain and ending up in a tornado. 😳

What does it say about you that you’d rather find time to fold and put away your laundry and iron your shirts then write your performance review? 

We are under 24 hours until Azure Infrastructure Summit starts with a Convo Note from Mark Russinovich. Three days. 30 plus sessions. 8am to 3pm PDT. Building, operating, and optimizing Azure workloads. Each session has interactive chat with the engineers! Get your Qs answered. azureinfrasummit.com

Windows Server Summit is starting soon. If you manage servers, clusters, hybrid workloads, or just want to know where Windows Server is headed, this one’s for you. I’ll be there chatting with IT Pros and engineers. Hope to see you. #WindowsServer #ITPro techcommunity.microsoft.com/event/window...

Took the Kia in for an oil change today and had them look into a concerning thunk sound whenever you started to slow down. Turns out there's something wrong with a front wheel hub and transmission linkages between electric and gas engines. Buy your warranty, folks.

Popped over to building 83 yesterday on MSFT Campus for a quick shoot with my friends on the Global Skilling team.  Happy Friday folks keep on learning!

Me: Let’s Go! We’re going to have a productive day today! Bailee: Meh. Go ahead, I’ll catch up.

Timeline cleanse for your Sunday because this shows up in my photos randomly for some reason…😂

Calling IIS “legacy” is just a way to avoid learning it. If it’s running production, it’s not legacy, it’s critical infrastructure. Here’s a solid IIS learning path that focuses on real skills so you can keep things workin’ & troubleshoot as required. techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/itopsta...

This guy - Owen Cutts just makes my Friday with his passion and knowledge of music. I seek out his “Old Music Fridays” post when I sit down for my Friday morning coffee. Go check him out - you will not regret it. www.instagram.com/reel/DXgkBeT...

Quote post with a video game that takes you back to your childhood. Eliot’s Corner Store in Saint John, NB had this in the back. Spent many a quarter on it.

It’s a “beautiful” day in Redmond on the MICROSOFT campus today. 🙄 Later this week - I’m gonna be sitting down with Mark Russinovich to talk about Azure & infrastructure ops. If you could ask him one question about building, deploying & managing Azure, what would it be? 

Decided to ride in today for my Friday RTO. Realized I needed to still pick up some maple syrup for the monthly "pancake Fridays" get together for lunch. Gotta bring the good stuff.