All posts by Christopher Kusek (PKGuild)

Talk about coming down to the last minute! Yes! It’s almost here! EMC World will be in full swing next week!

I don’t know about you, but I’ll likely be busy in various sessions, meetings, and who knows how many other things – all the while trying to Tweet, and Blog to the best of my ability – Oh, and doing everything in my power to meet every single one of you who I know so well and dearly.. and yet, we’ve not had the opportunity to meet in person!

So, what you might be saying is.. hashtags aside, how will we stay in touch? Sync up, get to know who is where, doing what, and so on?

Other than Len Devanna’s great “Bloggers Lounge” breakdown which shows you who will be where and what not..

I’ve also created a List you can follow on Twitter! My simple list @cxi/emcworld2010 will enable you to follow all of us madness folks – Oh, and wait there’s more! If you’re on Twitter, and want to get yourself added to this list for mutual communication and collaboration.. Just let me know and I’ll be sure to add you to this list! This is an opt-in sort of list, as I do prefer to respect your boundaries of sorts!   So, follow along, be sure to hunt me down and say hi, and let’s have an amazing time! Oh.. and learning stuff, yea learning stuff too! :)

Look for a potential slew of blog posts, tweets and other crazy times (Did someone say non-stop twitpics?! :))  See you there next week! FYI: I’ll be arriving early on Sunday!

There’s only two months left until June 30th! Yea I know you have a lot on your plate between now and then.. but for those of you who are certifying.. and happen to be taking any of the following exams – You get not only a Second Shot at taking the exam… but you also get 50% off?! Whoa! Half off?!?!

So, for those of you who are not so sure what all of the obscure numbers listed really seem to reflect to in form of exams.. here is the breakdown of what gives you a SECOND SHOT and 50% off! (Remember – Second Shot is available for all exams and all countries… but this 50% off deal is limited to these exams listed!)

70-432 TS: Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Implementation and Maintenance
70-448 TS: Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Business Intelligence Development and Maintenance
70-450 PRO: Designing, Optimizing and Maintaining a Database Administrative Solution Using Microsoft SQL Server 2008
70-452 PRO: Designing a Business Intelligence Infrastructure Using Microsoft SQL Server 2008
70-562 TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, ASP.NET Application Development
70-564 Pro: Designing and Developing ASP.NET Applications Using the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5
70-693 Pro: Windows Server 2008 R2, Virtualization Administrator
70-669 TS: Windows Server 2008 R2, Desktop Virtualization
70-680 TS: Windows 7, Configuring
70-682 Pro: Upgrading to Windows 7 MCITP Enterprise Desktop Support Technician
70-659 TS: Windows Server 2008 R2, Server Virtualization
70-652 TS: Windows Server Virtualization, Configuring
83-640 TS: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuring

So, just like all of my other announcements around vouchers and such… let me know if you need vouchers and I’ll give you what I can! Second Shots! 50% off! 20% off,10% off vouchers!

Hit me up via email, comments, twitter, facebook! etc :)

That’s right! I have a few vouchers available.. and at this time, I’m giving up one of these free vouchers to one of you fortunate souls!

What do you need to win? Comment on this blog post – that’s it! That doesn’t take much! Oh, preferably.. comment on how you’d go about using it – As far as I’m aware.. this voucher is good for ANY country, so I’d love to hear whatever your story is, of how this voucher will benefit you, your life and your career! or.. whatever!

So, simply comment away, and WIN! – It’s literally THAT easy – do your best to share this among the community and with others, because this won’t be the first voucher I give away and I love champions of the cause!   I’ll give out the free voucher.. lets say…the week or April 19th.   

And, not that this will help your cause (Although, it won’t hurt it ;))

I’m still looking for donations to help me in supporting children with disabilities – as I run the Boston Marathon on their behalf 2 weeks from today! So, please support me if you can

As seen in this blog post: Putting my life on the line to improve another’s – Please RT and donate

Thanks, and good luck on the vouchers! If I’m able to meet my goal of $2500, I’ll immediately offer up one more FREE voucher for give away!   Thanks!

I promised myself I wouldn’t write something on the Census.. this is after I initially silently complained about the LETTER I received informing me that the Census is coming soon. (Although I did do some pretty extensive searching on the cost of Permit G-58 items, and what the likely cost to us for that single mailing was)

And then I got the actual census, riddled with inaccuracies and insanity – I’m sure if I mail in my Census now.. it’ll be invalid since it speaks about “April 1 2010” as the date I get to choose who ‘lives’ here.   But even that… I simply tweeted and vocally complained.. but I didn’t actually go so far as to write this post.

However, I can remain silent no longer.   … Why you might ask?

I received this in the mail today.

Seriously? Seriously? I mean, SERIOUSLY FRANCINE?!  WTF IS THIS?!@?

That’s right.   Not only did I receive one piece of post which effectively said “Save the date”, and then I received “the date” and now I’m given… not a tutorial.. not anything which WASN’T disclosed in previous mailings… No.  I’m not even sure WTF this is about and why my tax dollars and TREES, screw the tax dollars, my frakking TREES are going to waste for this utter BS. (Yes, first time I’ve ever used the acronym BS)

I totally get that you need to do this Census.  I’m willing to let it slide that in the year 2010. What’s that? the Year twoooooooo thousand and ten.. you don’t have a DIGITAL option, yet all of your forms you mail are effectively keyed to individual.. but no, I get that.   But do you seriously need to SPAM my frakking home mailbox? Destroy millions of trees? Make me write stupid blog posts?

So what will come next? Can I expect to receive a swimsuit catalog of the Census?   Will there be a “Best of the Census”, or a continuous revisiting of this experience again?   I hope I don’t see YET another mailing to come on this same topic, but we’ll see…

I’m not sure what the cost of this is to the tax payers (hey, that’s me!) but I thought TWO mailings was a bit severe.  Three is downright idiotic.

Though for what it’s worth… I’d love to hear if you agree, or disagree even, especially disagree! 

I get a lot of emails, tweets, IM’s, comments and more about getting 20% off your certification exam!  And I know I’ve discussed this in the past Increasing your Microsoft Certification Discount from 10% to 20%, Certification and MeasureUp Discounts 20% off Certs! and You deserve a Second Shot at Microsoft Exam’s, until June 30th, 2010! – and even more than that, but I won’t bore you with the other redundant links!

What this really means is… I’ve said this a damn lot! So why am I saying it again?!!$!?   Because June 30th is coming up, and that is when all of the vouchers will expire – Second shot AND the 20% off vouchers! So what this means to you is… Let’s get rid of all of my vouchers!

I currently have vouchers for EVERY country which give you a “Second shot” on your exams – so if you want insurance if you fail, let me know and I’ll hook you up!

If you want 20% off on your Certification Exams though, I’m limited to the following countries:

It bears repeating – I only have vouchers with 20% off in the above mentioned countries.   It’s either 20% off or Second Shot – Only!

As far as how many of these vouchers I have available.. most of the countries I have 10 or 20 total.. except for the US, where I have ~150 vouchers left.  So don’t be afraid to ask for as many vouchers as you need!

Now get out there and get certifying before this opportunity passes us all!