SQL Server Training Resources

I get asked from time to time to recommend SQL training resources. Many times the question is more about free training, as most everyone would like to avoid having to spend money (in good times, and in bad, but especially in bad). The trouble with anything free is that you get what you pay for. [...]

Book Review: The Tipping Point

At least one of the readers to my blog (either Mom or Dad) should recall how I previously did a review of the book Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell. At some point it was suggested to me that I should read The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, [...]

Good Way To Start Your Day

I have a lot of things to read on a daily basis. Some of them are recreational, but most of them are aligned with my technical interests. It is rare for me to have the time to sit down and read one book from cover to cover. So I have started reading a handful of [...]

Book Review: The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership

I recently finished this book and wante to share it with everyone. John C. Maxwell has written other professional development and leadership books. If you are familiar with his other works, and liked them, then you will like this one as well. The book is an easy enough read and Mr. Maxwell does a great [...]

Book Review: Outliers, the Story of Success

During the holidays my father-in-law was telling me about a book he had recently read. It was “Outliers: The Story of Success.” I was intrigued by my father-in-law recounting the stories about how all hockey players are born in January, towns in Pennsylvania that have no heart disease, and why Asians are so good a math. [...]

Book Review: Twitter Wit

“It’s called Twitter, and you should get in on it, it’s like liquid bacon injected into your veins with a Jager chaser.”
And so I was introduced to Twitter back in the summer of 2008 by Brent Ozar (blog | twitter). I had no idea what Twitter was about. I remember signing up, reading a few [...]

It’s For Real Now

I decided to Bang myself the other day and came across this link:
http://www.amazon.com/DBA-Survivor-Become-Rock-Star/dp/1430227877

I guess it is time to make an official announcement: I am writing a book. It is a professional development piece that I hope will help new DBA’s adjust to their careers. I also hope it will help people that are thinking of [...]

Atlas Shrugged

A few months back I had a close friend and mentor of mine suggest I read Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. We had been discussing some work related issues and he was trying to help me understand a very important point. In short, the book did exactly what he wanted; it made his point very clear [...]

Windows Hyper-V Book

A few weeks back I had the good fortune to attend a seminar at which John Kelbley was presenting. He happened to mention that he had recently finished a book on Hyper-V (OK, he mentioned it a dozen times), and I made a note to include it in my library.
I have been spending the past [...]

New Bookshelf

Like a lot of people, I want as much information as I can possibly get in the shortest amount of time. Think Keanu and the Matrix, except I don’t want to live in a pod of goo and have the base of my skull altered in order to accept downloads. But, if I can learn [...]