SQL Brain Picking

A few weekends ago I was fortunate enough to spend time with some old friends Chris and Sally. We had dinner together and got caught up on all sorts of events over the past oh-so-many years. There was a time when we saw each other quite frequently, as Chris and I used to coach basketball [...]

DBA Thanksgiving

Last month I went to visit some friends in Montreal. It just so happened to be the weekend right before the Thanksgiving holiday in Canada. While there we happened to meet some new people, which is always nice while traveling. During the discussions with our new friends we came about the topic of Thanksgiving, how [...]

EDMPASS Meeting Next Week

Next Wednesday night, November 25th, I will be taking part in a panel discussion hosted by the Edmonton PASS Chapter. Yeah, Edmonton. Alberta. Canada. America’s Hat. Just slightly West and North of Moose Jaw. But still south of Nunavut. Bonus points if you have even heard of that place.
All that is my way of saying [...]

Style and Comfort

I have been speaking in front of others for most of my life. And it has never been a comfortable feeling for me. Oh, sure, there are some days when it is easier than others. Over time I have learned a few tips and tricks that help me get through any talk. But there was [...]

Unicorns and Rainbows

How awesome was this year’s PASS Summit? Awesome enough for some unicorns to drop by after their show was done:

Yessir, unicorns and rainbows were in town. For those of us that ventured down to Zig Zag on Sunday night you would have seen them.

The Highlander

I was sitting in Paul Randal-Tripp’s (blog | @PaulRandal) session at PASS last week (he saved me a seat in the front row bless his heart) and listened to him talk about logging and recovery. At some point Jonathan Kehayias (blog | @SQLSarg) asked a question and I remember hearing the question, thinking that I [...]

2009 PASS Summit Summary

“We are expecting big things from you this year.”
As I was leaving the MVP dinner on Friday night I was told those exact words by a politely smiling gentleman. Confused, I responded with “How so?” After all, how could I do big things for the MVP program?
“We”ll, we elected you for a reason. You got [...]

PASS Summit Update

I remember the days when I had plenty of time to blog once or twice a day from the PASS Summit. Well, those days are over apparently, for two reasons. First, my time is more limited these days than before. Second, I never seem to be near a power supply and I could really use an [...]

Updated PASS List of People I Want To Meet

UPDATED: I have not had a lot of time to blog from the Summit. Hopefully I can find some time today to assemble some coherent thoughts.
UPDATED: I will cross off the names of the people I have had the chance to meet already.
Here is an updated list of people heading (hopefully) to PASS that I [...]

PASS Summit Preview

I love movies. I also love popcorn, but I am not sure if that is related. Anyway, I have been a movie buff for years. I do not get to watch as much these days as I would like, but I expect I can get caught up on any I have been missing. The other [...]