Here, There, and Everywhere; Speaking in Fall 2011, Part 1

September 2, 2011 by 2 Comments

The last quarter of the year is usually my busiest due to the fantastic PASS Summit and SQLBits events.  The fall looks a little different ... BECAUSE IT WILL BE EVEN BUSIER!  Here's a rundown of where I'll be this fall through mid-October:   BASTA! SQLCON.NET September 26 to 29; Mainz, Germany This big developer and admin conference runs from September 26 to 29 in Mainz, Germany.  I'll be delivering at least one session and hobnobbing with Quest customers, friends, and in a very weird twist, my oldest daughter Emily, who will be in the Rhineland at the exact same time on a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Conferences, Databases, PASS, Presentations, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication, TCD blog post Tagged With: , , , ,

Women in Technology: A Quick Observation and a Quick Straw Poll

August 29, 2011 by 6 Comments

A bit of background:  Those aren't grand daughters of the Clampetts in the picture at right.  Those are my three daughters and three stepdaughters, all of whom I want to inherit the world - as little or as much as they want to take hold of.  (I already talked a bit about this in a post on my personal, family blog.  Be warned, it's all boring family photos and such).  Enabling them to have all of the choices and opportunities that are open to my son is a big motivating factor in my life.  So many years ago, when several PASS volunteers wanted to start doing more to build a community of support … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Challenges, Conferences, Ethics, Opinion, PASS, Professional Development, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication, TCD blog post, Trends Tagged With:

Upcoming SQLSaturday Events in Omaha and Atlanta!

August 17, 2011 by Leave a Comment

I've had enough time off from traveling after my surgery to finally travel again.  First on the circuit , set for August 27th, is Omaha, Nebraska and SQL Saturday #91.  As a former Crimson Tide alum, I was stoked about going to the University of Nebraska, our once and future rivals on the Grid Iron.  But after a moment's confusion, I remembered that the Huskers are over in Lincoln, not Omaha.  (May Bear have mercy on my soul.) Almost all of the speakers are friends.  Many are Microsoft MVPs.  So it'll be great to catch up with these fine folks and, I hope, get a chance to meet many … [Read more...]

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Microsoft Document Watch for Operational Excellence

August 8, 2011 by 1 Comment

Back when my day-to-day duties included database administration work and enterprise architecture, I became rather obsessed with the idea of operational excellence.  I read everything I could on the topic.  I made a list of favorites, which became somewhat shabby over time, as I dog-eared important pages and scribbled notes in the margins.  (Perhaps that list of favorites might, in and of itself, make a good blog post).  Fast-forward a decade and I'm still mightily interested in operational excellence for IT organizations.  It's just that so much good material is available for free on the … [Read more...]

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ETL Demo with Data From Data.Gov

August 5, 2011 by Leave a Comment

A little over a month ago, I wrote an article (Is There Such a Thing as Easy ETL) about expressor software and their desktop ETL application, expressor Studio.  I wrote about how it seemed much easier than the native ETL tools in SQL Server when I was reading up on the tool, but that the "proof would be in the pudding" so to speak when I actually tried it out loading some free (and incredibly useful) data from the US federal data clearinghouse, Data.Gov. If you'd rather not read my entire previous article - quick recap, expressor Studio uses “semantic types” to manage and abstract mappings … [Read more...]

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What I’m Reading, July 22 2011

July 21, 2011 by Leave a Comment

I read too much, and that, my friends, is an entirely separate topic for a blog post. But I thought I'd share with you a little more about what I'm reading because sometimes, if I'm lucky, it might be something you'd enjoy too. So I'm going to start sharing what I'm reading at least once per week, partly so that I don't firehose too many reading links directly into your brain (where I to do it say once per month) and partly to solidify in my own mind the information that I'm reviewing. So here are a few good links for the seven days leading up to July 22, 2001: Microsoft and Whitehouse … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Administration, BigData, Challenges, Cloud, Cool Technologies, Databases, Gov2.0, IO, NoSQL, On-Line Resources, Performance, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication, TCD blog post, Tips & Tricks, Tool Time, Trends, Virtualization, Web2.0

Microsoft Windows Platforms Blog Watch

July 20, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Remote Desktop Services Component Architecture Poster Grab your own poster! A visual guide to key Remote Desktop Services technologies in Windows Server 2008R2   Virtually Free Get the latest update rollup package for the Hyper-V role in Windows Server 2008 R2 and be sure to bookmark the Windows Virtualization Team Blog.  Be sure to check out blog World Simplified is a Virtual World. And doncha evah neglect application virtualization, such as the goodness at the App-V Product Team Blog.   Let's Optimize Some Desktops (Assuming You Have Gone Full Cloud … [Read more...]

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Getting Ahead of the Curve – Big Data

July 8, 2011 by Leave a Comment

I have to confess that I'm incredibly excited about BigData.  I haven't been this excited about new innovations in IT since relational databases first appeared on the scene early in my career.  But what is BigData? Back in those days, I can still feel the echos of adrenaline when I was hired to work on a NASA project that would involve over 100Mb of data.  ONE HUNDRED MEGABYTES! Good grief, that was fantastically huge to us on the team.  (That database was over 130Mb when I finally moved on to another project).  And remember - PC software was installed using 640Kb floppy disks at the time.  … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Administration, BigData, Challenges, Databases, NoSQL, SQL Server, SQLMag, SQLServerPedia Syndication, TCD blog post Tagged With: , , , , , ,

New Releases in the Toad Family of Tools

June 8, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Toad Extension for Visual Studio 1.2 is now live. You can access it HERE. Key new features in Toad Extension for Visual Studio v1.2: Deployment Scripts: the pre- and post-deployment scripts of TFS are now supported. XML Columns: supports tables with XML data type columns. Nested Tables: supports tables with up to two levels of nested table type columns. Synonyms: synonyms can now be imported into your DB project Source Navigation: You can now use F12 navigation to find the definition of items in the code editor. Stored Procedures: generate Oracle stored procedures that … [Read more...]

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Toad for SQL Gets 5 Diamonds from SQL Server Magazine

April 27, 2011 by Leave a Comment

The Toad for SQL Server review that was recently conducted for SQL Server Magazine was published online – and we got 5 out of 5 diamonds! This is an improvement from the 4.5/5 stars Michael Campbell gave the product in a 2009 review. The review is very positive, with Michael citing the product’s highly customizable management and development solution, and writes that it “one-ups SSMS by including server, schema, and data comparison tools, a log reader, and a wide assortment of other options, capabilities, and utilities.” See the full review below or by clicking the link here: Toad for … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Cloud, Databases, NoSQL, SQL Server, TCD blog post Tagged With: , , ,
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