My Mario Kart Wii Friend Code

April 27th, 2008

I pre-ordered Mario Kart Wii a few weeks ago (I was obligated having owned and every Mario Kart ever, other than the SNES which unfortunately was the only mainstream Nintendo console I never owned). With that said, I’ve been playing it pretty much all day (while I should be doing other things) and have to admit that I’m not good compared to the majority of you all.

Don’t worry, though. I’ll keep practicing and pretty soon I’ll get about the base 5,000 experience points (or whatever they call that rating)… :)

My Mario Kart Wii Friend Code is 3866-8418-2060

If you haven’t picked it up yet, I cannot recommend Mario Kart Wii enough. After owning it for about 8 hours, it’s easily in my top 3 Wii games so far.

Experimenting with Flickr Video

April 20th, 2008

So Flickr has recently allowed the uploading of videos to their site and I figured that I have this little video camera that I love (and the whole blogosphere does now as well after this David Pogue article), so I might as well share a little something to test things out.

Here’s a video of our daughter, Poppy, trying to touch my camera with her oatmeal-covered sticky fingers.

Don’t I Have A Blog That I Am Supposed To Be Updating?

April 2nd, 2008

uh yes, I think I do…

Expect some content soon. Lots of stuff has been going on in marusin-land™ that you definitely don’t want to miss!

Watch The Big Lebowski in your browser

March 21st, 2008

Watch The Big Lebowski on Hulu! Cool! :)

Session: Implementing Microsoft Dynamics CRM Live in 60 Minutes or Less

March 15th, 2008

Focus on configuring the application to meet your needs, not your environment

  • Define Implementing
    • Business Process Analysis
    • Infrastructure Assessment
    • Installation
    • Configuration
    • Data Migration
    • Training

Quick and Easy Setup/Configuration

  • Quick Setup

    • Signup Wizard
    • User Invitations
  • Easily Configurable

    • Import customizations and workflow
  • Quick Deployment
  • Easily Adopted

Once you get confirmation email, setup

  • Login with Live ID
  • Quick profile information
  • Select Default Currency
  • Live CRM environment

Convergence Session: 10 Cool Things Customers Have Done With Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Microsoft Dynamics GP

March 12th, 2008

10 Cool Things Customers Have Done With Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Microsoft Dynamics GP

Session Conducted by Jon Jonasson & Pam Misialek

  1. Excel Reports

    • Access from Outlook
    • Connect a Reports Library within MOSS by going to Actions -> Connect to Outlook.
    • Requires MOSS for this connectivity functionality.
  2. Dundas Dashboards

    • Graphical display
    • Dundas graphics are available for download (”Gadgets”).
    • Embed them in WebPart placeholders for “dashboard-y”/KPI interfaces.
    • Dundas was purchased by Microsoft and the components are available as a separate download.
  3. Analysis Cubes

    • Easy access from SharePoint
    • Use Analysis Cubes that are being rendered by Excel Server 2007.
  4. Forecaster

    • Budget versus actual
    • ???
  5. Document Management and Workflow

    • Document Controls
    • “Document Libraries are a Network Share on steroids”
    • Dynamics Business Portal is the branded version of a MOSS Enterprise CAL
  6. SharePoint Blog

    • Sharing information and ideas
  7. My Sites

    • Time-saving collaboration
  8. InfoPath form integrating to GP

    • Easy data entry
    • Create form-based/web-based applications that can integrate directly with GP
      • Example: Employee Expense Form
  9. Adding Web Parts

    • Ad hoc data access
  10. Importing Data from Excel

    • Automating Integrations

Editorial Comment: Where were the “cool things” that were done between these products? This was not the session I was hoping for by any means. It was just an overview of SharePoint and “what’s cool” in the product. Nothing about the integration, etc.

I really need to look into how to get onto the presenters list… :)

Convergence’s Green Initiative

March 11th, 2008

Convergence's "Green Initiative"One of the things that I noticed is pretty cool here at Convergence is their “Green Initiative”. In particular, every registered attendee received a Nalgene-ish reusable water bottle and there are water coolers EVERYWHERE for you to fill up. This takes the place of having free bottled water throughout the venue.

They say that going with this type of program is saving over 30,000 water bottles from being thrown out over the course of this week (and I believe it). Smart idea and a nice way to reduce how much trash an event of this size produces.

Some other Green Initiatives (from an “inside” Conference page):

  • All attendees will be given a reusable water bottle to fill at water cooler stations throughout the Convention Center. Biodegradable cups will also be available at each water cooler station.
  • The majority of conference-created collateral will be printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper (processed chlorine-free) and printed with vegetable-based ink.
  • All CommNet stations will be stocked with recycled paper.
  • The fabric of the conference bag is made with 51% post-consumer recycled materials including water bottles and yogurt containers.
  • The conference pen is manufactured with corn starch instead of petroleum and is 81% biodegradable.
  • The conference badge lanyard is manufactured from 100% recycled soda and water bottles.
  • Badge holders will be collected at the end of the event to be reused at future Microsoft Dynamics and Convergence events.
  • The journal within the conference bag is made with 100% recycled chipboard cover, 100% post-consumer recycled writing paper, and printed with soy-based ink. The wire binding is made of 97% scrap metal with only 3% new steel.
  • Evaluation prizes include t-shirts made with organic cotton and other solar-powered gadgets.
  • The Conference Store will be stocking a variety of environmentally friendly merchandise.
  • Air-conditioning/heating and lighting will be minimized during off-hours to minimize power consumption.
  • The disposable plates and bowls used during certain meals are made of a biodegradable sugarcane by-product. Napkins, cups and other boxed containers are also made of biodegradable and recycled materials.
  • Menus will incorporate a variety of locally-grown and organic ingredients. Left-over food will also be donated to Second Harvest, a local food bank.
  • Convergence Sponsors & Exhibitors have been encouraged to help reduce waste by minimizing giveaways and collateral, using recycled materials where possible, and minimizing shipping and packaging needs.

Convergence Session: Using SharePoint with Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Dashboards, Analytics, and Document Collaboration

March 11th, 2008

Common Dashboards for SharePoint

  • My Dashboard
    • Activities, Opportunities, Accounts
  • Role Based
    • Metrics, Team Roll-Up
      • Sales Manager
      • Marketing Manager
      • Customer Service

The Dashboard Top 3

  • Page viewer Web Part is your friend
  • Send as a short-cut
  • Folder Home Page

Other Ideas

  • Link specific dashboard webpages (coming from SharePoint) directly from Outlook
    • Right-Click on a folder within Outlook and go to Properties -> Home Page to set URL
  • Marketing Activities (Marketing Campaigns, Responses, etc)
  • Customer Service (Activities, Goals, etc)
  • Sales Manager (Team Quota, Roll-Ups, Drill-Thrus)
  • 300 - 450 pixels wide is a good start for “wide” webparts in SharePoint
  • “Connect to Outlook” Action Item in Outlook is a good way of taking documents offline

I’m at Microsoft Convergence This Week

March 11th, 2008

I’m down in Orlando, FL this week at the Microsoft Convergence Conference.

For those not sure, Dynamics is Microsoft’s ERP Suite that is comprised of the following products: * Dynamics GP (previously known as Great Plains) * Dynamics SL (previously known as Solomon) * Dynamics NAV (previously known as Navision) * Dynamics AX (previously known as Axapta) * Dynamics CRM (previously known as Microsoft CRM) :)

It’s an interesting opportunity for me as I haven’t completely embedded (or should I say “dabbled”) with the whole Microsoft Dynamics side of things other than CRM & a little GP.

I’m going to try and post a bit around here just to help share with my co-workers and/or anyone else that stumbles upon my site/these posts.

Sorry to those not interested in this kind of stuff. I’ll be going back to my regular non-blogging self at the end of the week… :)

marusin.com podcast #13 (or CinchCast #1)

February 21st, 2008

marusin.com podcastGoing on almost a year, so what better time to record a new podcast!

Actually this was an unintentional podcast that just start happenening. You see, BlogTalkRadio (who my friend Kris just got a new gig with) recently released a new service called Cinch which allows you to record/create podcast by just making a phone call.

All you need to do is dial up 646-200-0000 and start recording at the beep.

What happens when you hang up is that the phone call is converted to mp3 and output in an RSS feed at http://cinch.blogtalkradio.com/YOURTENDIGITPHONE#. Really cool stuff.

Yesterday while I was stuck in traffic (which is usually when/where your typical marusin.com podcast is recorded), I started thinking about this service and dialed it up. As soon as it picked up, I got the crazy idea of conferencing my friend Kris into the call just to see if it would record the both of us. What resulted was this recording where Kris talks about Cinch and we discuss some of the possibilities with using the service and building some applications/plugins around it.

Download marusin.com podcast #13 (3.1mb - 13:41) or suck it in from my RSS Feed or subscribe to it in iTunes.

subscribe to the marusin.com podcast