Has it really been over 2 months since I posted about becoming both a better developer and a better developer who was  also 345 lbs of ripped muscle?  It's amazing how the time flies.  I haven't updated you all on my progress as much as I would like, but believe it or not I am *almost* on pace in both respects; expect a flurry of book reviews very soon!  But this post isn't about me and my heroic exploits...no, this is about me and how my heroic exploits have inspired a nation.

My original post tagged several different people, all of whom answered my call to technical arms!  Now that the last person has finally given a response, let's take a look at the original 5 candidates:

James Kovacs

James did not reply publicly on his blog, but I will share the E-mail he sent to me:

from      James Kovacs <kovacs69bitchhaha@hotmail.com>
to         Justice Gray <>
date      May 24, 2007 9:50 PM

'Sup yo? 

I appreciate the challenge, but I've actually decided to forego working on getting better at software development for the time being.  Instead, I am going to focus on my true passion - becoming the best white rapper in North America.  I truly believe there is a niche there to fill, being that Eminem is semi-retired and both Vanilla Ice and Snow haven't really been in the public eye for several years.  I'm also not a cracka-assed poser like those 3 wanna-be OGs.  All I need is one big break and you'll be telling people you received an E-mail from the white reincarnation of Tupac Shakur.  California bitch!  Trust me, the verbal smackdown I lay is going to make LL Cool J and Kool Mo Dee's battle look like a make-out session.   

"Thug Life", as the kids say,
James Kovacs, B.Sc., M.Sc., MCSD, MCT
Microsoft MVP - Solutions Architect
http://www.jameskovacs.com

Upon reading this, I did what any friend of James would have done and laughed hysterically.  Seriously, it takes more than wearing gold chains all the time and waving guns in people's faces for a guy to be a rapper.  Just because James Kovacs can pistol-whip someone at a moment's notice doesn't necessarily mean he knows how to drop the rhymes.  Thankfully, I am humble enough to admit the one time out of 10 million that I am wrong.  This was that time.  Congratulations to James for becoming the whitest rapper at Tech Ed (and perhaps ever) this year.  What a way to make a lasting impression on others!  This was extremely motivating for me; at the least I have contributed to someone fulfilling their long-held dream, and at best I've helped to create the greatest white rap sensation since I last busted lyrics in my Grade 8 year.

D'Arcy Lussier

The first person to publicly accept the challenge, D'Arcy has some aggressive goals involved getting a new web site up and running with webcasts, podcasts, and the like.  2 podcasts a *month*!  5 videos a month!  35 thousand chicken wings a month!  A presentation tour!  Working out every day for 7 hours!  Truly D'Arcy is taking things to the limit.   I can only hope he survives the arduous journey ahead! 

Jason Row

Jason and I have quite the embarassing history but we've put that behind us with his acceptance post!  Mr. Row is a house on fire, raring to blow apart the certification exams at Microsoft, doing some technical reading, and taking his "naughty developer strip show" from the mirror in his bedroom to unsuspecting user groups across his home province.  Forget about all of that though - Jason has become a better developer by receiving a Facebook friend request from none other than Scott Hanselman himself!  Who needs developer credibility when Scott is your friend?  Unfortunately, Jason never utilized his close personal friendship with "Scotty the Body" - as Jason likes to call him for some reason - to his advantage by tagging him directly in this challenge.  Thus he has lost some of the critical coolness points he once had with me. 

George Clingerman

George went beyond the call of duty in several ways:
* he posted a touching explanation of why it took him ten years to respond
* he posted an awesome list of things he is doing
* he then posted another great piece of advice a few days later, thus inspiring most developers to try and buck the trend in our industry and actually have real friends
* he tagged *quite* the list of people, including Rory Blyth and Jason Olson.  I'm pretty sure that Rory is too busy preening at himself in the mirror to accept this challenge* but it's the thought that counts, George!

Donald Belcham

Containing statements like "I've got to find myself", "I've lost my passion", and "I'm poison for you, Donna!", Donald's self-improvement post is cause for celebration; with this much emo in one post, the world doesn't have to mourn the loss of Dawson's Creek any longer.   Equal parts inspirational and melodramatic, I have no doubt Donald was listening to his Best of Backstreet Boys ballads CD while composing his magnum opus.  His thoughts on how to effectively blog are particularly good advice, but all of it is excellent reading if you can get past the image of him lying down drunk and crying himself to sleep after writing this.

I would be remiss if I didn't keep track of the people who had been tagged by someone else in the chain, so here are links to their own posts on developer improvement:

• Scott Reynolds (who wasn't even tagged but did this anyway!  How awesome is that??)
• Kelly Cassidy's original post and followup (tagged by D'Arcy)
• Shane Soldice (tagged by D'Arcy)
• Matt Kiazyk (tagged by Shane Soldice)

Maybe it's just the "new math", but I'm not sure how 5 developers tagged 4 people each leads to only 4 new people.  Thus in an attempt to continue our world-changing goal of self-improvement, I am tagging 5 other people with this challenge and then correspondingly, the challenge to tag 4 others:

Steven Rockarts
David Woods
Jason Haley (as apparently Donald's response to this challenge "hit close to home" for him; time to get it going buddy!)
Bil Simser
Terry Thibodeau

With the sheer number of links in this post, I'm pretty sure I'm going to get dropped off of Google's search index.  Don't let my sacrifice be in vain!