So I need to learn and finish a program in XAML C# WPF using MVVM in like a week ( or at least head in the right direction). Anyone got good resource recommendations? I have been googling but there has been so many things outdated.

I muddled my way through a simple WPF application using one of Microsoft's examples and/or tutorials. It took me less than a day as it was really simple. What version of VS are you using?

Ultimate 2013. Right now our project is not following best practice. We are hard coding the buttons names and pricing (restaurant POS). So basically the view is the model at the same time. It looks nice but we are going to hit a dead wall when we try and implement business logic behind the app.

Wow you guys are doing a lot of development work in a short period of time seems like. Well VS 2013 Ultimate can get the job done. Do you have to come up with unit tests too ?

To my friend: "Is X such a terrible city that they can't find developers to move there?"

My latest contact from a Recruiter actually sounds serious. Didn't even care when I talked about my lack of experience.

This recruiter is recruiting for a recruiting / contractor agency. Uh, no, they do not know who the client is and they don't really know about the job. But it will be super easy, just one remote interview, talk with HR, then ship my ass up to the Silicon Valley.

When I said what I wanted, for uh.. pay, I was told that was too low.

The job *is* going to be developing in Lisp, so I'm willing to give it a look, and at the least, get some much-needed interview practice. I don't think my love for parenthesis is enough to make me consider relocating to a strange City by the Bay.

This is gonna go nowhere at all, isn't it?

Well I just want to get most of it , if not all of this done before spring break ends. As for unit tests, we don't need to implement it. Though I heard, with MVVM, unit testing is easier since all you have to do is test the view model. So it might be beneficial for us? I dont know.

Right now I'm having trouble knowing how to bind a list<menuitems> to the view. Think I have to do some kind of collectionview and binding the properties that I want.

This whole xaml thing is confusing and every tutorial does something differently, so it's hard to tell what I want.

At the company I work for we are hired guns so we are always fighting for and implementing best practices, but at start-ups all over the world people are hacking together jumbled wtf and calling it a product. Sometimes it is really bad and the overall architecture is useless, other times people just know what they can bs and what needs to be the real deal. Regardless, it is good experience to just get **** done quick and dirty and show a golden path to buy time, or to sell a product.

How well do you know Lisp?

You never know. What type of app are they doing in Lisp?

My location is something I've been asked a million times in this forum.

Depends on what Lisp. Clojure and Scheme, very well. Common Lisp, not at all.

I have no clue.

To be clear, it is Clojure, not CL or Scheme.

Recruiter: Oh no sorry about the lisp mixup. The client is actually a digital agency specializing in the speech therapy industry. Are you familiar with magento?

Me: PHP is kind of like Lisp, right?

Why are you so against moving to the bay area? L.A. is a ****hole. I'd consider moving back to Santa Monica but the valley and all of non coastal L.A. Should be sunk to the bottom if the ocean

There aren't many tech jobs in those places either - except Pasadena.

That's true. Unless you're a surfer or something I don't see much upside to L.A. Over the sf bay area. I don't really get the impression that Dave has any significant ties to the area either it just seems to be an irrational hatred of the bay area.

Based on his description of his job I definitely imagine it being a downtown or maybe riverside type place

I was up in SF for the past new year. I could list a few reasons why I didn't like it much, but for certain, the people were space-out strange.

I think I was there for a good 3 hours before I was able to count the women I saw on more than one hand.

No one looks at you at all. They have a strange way of diverting their gaze from you. I was kind of surprised that no one broke their necks from their heads snapping away so fast.

"I am having a meeting with a FEMALE FOUNDER!" It took amazing effort to not puke. Hacker News is reality after all...

No rent control. A friend of mine had hers shoot up to $100k / year from like $20k / year and she has no recourse on this.

I had a generally poor experience when I was there. I am heading back up there later this month to kill a weekend and I'm staying away from the tourist areas this time. I think that was my main issue. I went there to "get away" but I found I was constantly trying to get to somewhere else. For certain, some of the best hikes I've ever done was in that city. Just incredible beauty if you can withstand the weather.

I'm tired of being in LA as well, and I'd gladly scoot out if given the opportunity. I live in downtown, by the way, and this is the best place to live in LA by a long shot. Santa Monica is alright, but I wouldn't want to live there. I've considered moving to other cities and looked at the cost of relocating to Austin and the Pacific Northwest.

I don't think LA is an utter ****hole. The live music is second to none and the artwork is fantastic. There are so many little areas down here, but yes, you have to do a bit of searching.

Believe it or not, there are a lot of people in LA who hate SF. There are also quite a few developers who left SF to program down here instead.

SF is ridiculously expensive right now. I lived in SF for 5 years and definitely prefer it where I'm at now in Redondo Beach. It's very laid back. I was able to buy a 1-bdrm condo which I could never do in most nice parts of the Bay Area.

L.A. has so much more than surfing and the beach.

Art
LACMA
MOCA
Arts District
Gallery Row
Elephant Theater
Electric Lodge
The Silent Movie Theater
Music out of the ears. And so much of it is free / cheap. The list is endless here.

What about the dozens of temples? Just a nice little bit if silent culture. Not Buddhist or anything, but good stuff.

Commerce Casino; the Bike?

Try heading out to the real Little China: Alhambra, Duarte, Rosemead. Challenge your gullet with the real deal.

Like ice skating? There are 4 rinks.

What about the many night bicycle riding groups?

Miss the snow? Try skiiing at one of the many mountains around town.

I loathe the water and I'm an utter hydrophobe. There is no reason to think that the beach is all there is. This is a town with 13million people. There must be more to it than the friggin' gyms.

Well, okay. I just got another email from another recruiting company looking to fill the exact same position as the one I just wrote about.

*sigh*

Can't you at least interview and see what they offer? You might reconsider when the offer is on the table.

Austin is really nice, specially if you get a place on the green belt and rent is like 1k per month for single bedroom apartment. Although I'm sort of scoping out Washington because I like living up North.

That can be a very good sign, fyi.

It means that this company is in desperate need to the point of answering the phone and telling people who cold call "Yea, I know you have heard we need someone, send me a resume with Clojure."

It is not uncommon for recruiters to be working the same req, it is also common for certain reqs to never get filled and be known by everyone as unreasonable (linux sys admin at tripadvisor for 65k at one point was this.)

I never look a gift horse in the mouth.

I'm guessing the one I'm talking to now is a tad better. They upped my suggested salary by 10k, added benefits, and added reloc assistance. In simple terms, I low-balled myself really hard and this one wasn't going to have it.

If I get it, I'll probably take it... cause why not?

Pretty much the feedback I got about LA from very different people I talked to. Hope you're not a Scientologist dave (their headquarters in in LA, right?)

...

That being said...dunno if I'd leave a place where I lived for a bit to move out to hipster valley.

Yeah, there are at least 4 Scientology buildings in Hollywood, but I'm not a part of that philosophy or whatever it is, and I hate Hollywood.

Any large city has be approached Crockford style: stick to the good parts (good luck in Detroit). Anyone can make a case for any major city being a ****hole.