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My current mobile contract ends in 21 days.  I have spent the last 14 days researching the major providers in New England as well as almost every phone currently available.  My wife and I are on US Cellular and have been for 4 years (2-year contracts).  We use our phones everyday but since we call each other or other people on USCell we  hardly use any of our monthly minutes.  Since we don’t really use our phones that much it only seems logical to go to a pre-paid plan.  I couldn’t agree more but the down side is that we would loose our phone numbers that we have had for 4+ years.

We could just let our contract run out and go to a month-to-month payment but a) I would like a new phone and b) the mobile services has been going down hill over the past few weeks.

And I might add, US Cell has the worst selection of phones and when few smart phones that do have are way over priced.  I called customer service and tried to get a deal stating that this would be my 3rd contract renewal and that other providers have a better selection phones at lower prices.  Their response was that they’d give me $25 off any smart phone they have which by the way start at $75 for the LG Delve and up to $250 for the HTC Touch Pro.  Hmm let me get back to you on that generous offer.

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By this time next year I want to get my Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) from Microsoft.

My target technologies are:

•MCTS: .NET Framework 3.5, Windows Communication Foundation Applications
•MCTS: .NET Framework 3.5, Windows Forms Applications
•MCTS: .NET Framework 3.5, ADO.NET Applications
•MCTS: .NET Framework 3.5, ASP.NET Applications Maybe

Each exam track requires 2 exams but they all share 1 common exam making the total number of exams to take: 4

The common exam is: Exam 70-536: TS: Microsoft .NET Framework – Application Development Foundation
Book
Measure Up Practice Test

MCTS: .NET Framework 3.5, Windows Communication Foundation Applications
Exam 70-503: TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 – Windows Communication Foundation Application Development
Book: MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-503): Microsoft® .NET Framework 3.0—Windows Communication Foundation

MCTS: .NET Framework 3.5, Windows Forms Applications
Exam 70-505: TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, Windows Forms Application Development
Book: MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-505): Microsoft® .NET Framework 3.5 — Windows Forms Application Development
Measure Up Practice Test

MCTS: .NET Framework 3.5, ADO.NET Applications
Exam 70-561: TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, ADO.NET Application Development
Book: MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-561): Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 – ADO.NET
Measure Up Practice Test

It’s a fairly tall order but I did manage to get my MCAD a few years ago and that only took a month of being unemployed and studying 24/7.

The One Hour Project is a series of thirty small projects – each requiring roughly an hour of your time – that can help you get your finances on a better path, either by reducing your expenses, reorganizing your debts, or improving your chances at greater wealth. 

The Simple Dollar » The One Hour Project

As an MCPD: Enterprise Application Developer 3.5, you’ll have the skills required to build rich distributed solutions that focus on ASP .NET and Windows Forms rich-client experiences using Visual Studio 2008 and the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5. Choose from MeasureUp’s preparation tools available for your exam to get ready:

Required Exams (3 required)

70-505CS TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, Windows Forms Application Development C#

70-536CS TS: Microsoft .NET Framework – Application Development Foundation – Visual C#

70-561CS TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, ADO.NET Application Development C#

TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 – Windows Communication Foundation Application Development

Candidates for Exam 70-503: TS: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 – Windows Communication Foundation Application Development work on a team in a development environment that uses Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 and Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 to build distributed applications. Candidates should have at least one year of experience developing distributed applications by using technologies such as XML Web services, .NET Remoting, and Windows enterprise services. Additionally, candidates should be able to demonstrate the following by using Windows Communication Foundation (WCF).

•A solid understanding of WCF in the context of the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 solution stack

•Experience creating service model elements

•Experience using WCF to support Web services specifications standards

•Experience integrating WCF services with Windows enterprise services such as Message Queuing (MSMQ) and COM+

•Experience configuring and deploying WCF applications

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/exams/70-503.mspx

This learning plan is intended to help application developers gain the knowledge and skills required to build and configure a Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) solution by using Visual Studio 2008 and Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5. Developers can also use this learning plan to prepare for Microsoft exam 70-503.

http://learning.microsoft.com/manager/LearningPlanV2.aspx?resourceId=%7b0e600b8b-4260-4f18-b21c-c3beaeebe21a%7d&clang=en-US

Develop Mobile Applications with Visual Studio 2008

Mobile development is growing fast, and Windows Mobile is at the forefront with over 18 million phones shipped last year and many more cutting-edge devices on the way. Visual Studio developers have tremendous opportunities in this space. Why? Developing for a Windows Mobile phone leverages your existing coding experience and takes it to new heights. In this track, we’ll go through the fundamentals of building mobile applications. You’ll learn how to set up Visual Studio with the latest SDK and device emulators, and you’ll see how to build, deploy and debug applications. We’ll also explore AJAX capabilities that offer the richness of the desktop for mobile devices.

http://learning.microsoft.com/manager/LearningPlanV2.aspx?resourceId=%7b03194e6a-0dbc-40af-a2eb-46faa311ba62%7D&clang=en-US&program=RampUp