What's NXT?

Finally managed to make at least the first basic robot using the Lego Mindstorm NXT kit which I ordered recently. Still haven't tried the Microsoft Robotics Studio (which recently announced the October 2006 CTP release) but that will be the next (or should I say 'nxt') thing I shall be doing. Among other things it contains the cool CCR (Concurrency Control Runtime) which can be used in any app, not just robotic apps and which Richter explains quite well in this MSDN article. Here is a snap of my very first robot:

A lot of other things have been happening as well, including my completing 5 years at Microsoft (a few months ago actually but never got around to taking a snap of it!) which got me the 5 year anniversary memento shown below:

Another recent change on the job front has been that I have taken on a new role as an SDET Lead and so will be getting more involved with managing and developing people as part of my day to day job. Have given it a lot of thought and am really excited to have gotten this opportunity in my curent team itself. Might even have a few insights of my own that I would like to share in some time.