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Jeremiah Peschka & Buck Woody Talk Database Communities
Two of my favorite members and best speakers in the SQL Server community have made big changes – they’re refocusing their careers and their community work outside of SQL Server. Is it the beginning of...
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PASS Summit Speaker Feedback
The 2010 PASS Summit attendee feedback just arrived, and I’m very, very honored to have two sessions in the top 10. Last year, I had one session in the top 10. Based on the trends of this data, I...
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Christmas Caption Contest
It’s the holidays, and you’re not working that hard anyway. In the comments, give me your best caption for this photo by midnight GMT on Sunday, December 26th, 2010: Your caption here. I’ll pick the...
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What I’ve Been Writing Lately
I’m all over the intertubes this month, people. You can’t avoid me. I’M ON FIRE! Virtualization at the North Pole – I scored an interview with Santa’s Chief Information Elf who proceeded to explain...
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My 2010 Blog in Review
Time to take a look back at what happened in 2010. Turns out I was pretty busy – here’s my favorite posts: January: Book Week: The Politics of Writing Books – some of the challenges I faced writing...
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Goals? Where we’re going, we don’t need goals.
Denis Gobo tagged me in his post about his 2010 goals, and challenged a few of us to gauge our success for 2010 too by revealing our yearly goals and how we did. I should have seen it coming, because...
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Free SQL Server Training Videos from SQLbits
I am so screwed. I’ve got an iPad full of PASS Summit 2010 recorded sessions that I need to watch, and now the guys at SQLbits go and release all of their videos for free too. I’m never gonna catch...
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SQLCruise News & Giveaway from Idera
When Tim and I launched SQLCruise, the first agenda focused mostly on junior-level training. Much to my surprise, most of our attendees skewed much toward the expert tier. So when we designed the...
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How to Rehearse a Presentation
Buck Woody (Blog – @BuckWoody) and I did a presentation at the PASS Summit called, “You’re Not Attractive, But Your Presentations Can Be.” The audience asked a lot of good questions, and I wanted to...
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MCM Certificate Photoshop Contest
The SQL MCMs just got access to digital copies of our achievement certificates, and you know what that means. Pimp My MCM It’s time for some good old fashioned plagiarism! Whip out that Photoshop and...
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Three Questions You Should Never Ask Software Vendors
So your manager’s got some money burning a hole in her budget, and she wants you to go out and buy a management or monitoring tool. Don’t ask, “How much overhead does this software have?” Asking this...
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Pimp My MCM Certificate Contest Winner
Wow – you guys are creative! I got a lot of laughs out of the contest entries, and here’s some of the highlights. Doug Lane certified Admiral Ackbar as a Master of Trap Recognition and...
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Book Review: Applied Architecture Patterns on the Microsoft Platform
I usually hate architecture books. I can’t stand ‘em. Seems like every one I’ve ever read has been targeted at architecture astronauts – people who spend all their time talking theory, not practice....
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Top 10 Reasons to Attend SQLskills Immersion Training
If your New Year’s resolution was to become a better SQL Server professional, we’re here to help. SQLskills is offering our new Master Immersion Training courses starting next month, and here’s ten...
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Upcoming Webcasts and Presentations
I’m coming soon to a theater (okay, well, conference room) near you. Here’s where to catch me online or in meatspace: February 26 – SQLSaturday Vancouver Virtualization and SAN Basics for DBAs These...
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Consulting Lines: “Sounds like you’ve got it all under control.”
For us geeks, the hardest part about consulting isn’t the technology. Technology’s easy. I know when I poke SQL Server a certain way, it’s going to respond a certain way. That part of consulting is...
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InfoBoom: My Experiment in a Different Blogging Voice
Back in November, IBM’s InfoBoom contacted me about writing for them. Normally I turn down those kinds of requests because I’ve already got a platform for my voice (my blog), and I’m a freak about...
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Apple MacBook Air 13″ Review
As I was finishing recording the Microsoft Certified Master videos last month, my beloved and well-traveled MacBook Pro started giving me fits. It survived three very rough years on the road, encoding...
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Snowpocalypse Webcams in Chicago (Now offline)
For the folks from out of town, I’ve set up public access for my webcam. Here’s a live shot of Snowpocalypse 2011: Live Snowpocalypse Webcam Just kidding. Here’s the real webcams: (Update Feb 3 – now...
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Consulting Lines: “Would you mind driving?”
We nicknamed one of our favorite project managers “The Bus Driver.” She didn’t throw people under the bus herself, but she ran over many a reputation. If you didn’t know what you were doing, you...
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