Well, the entire Horde of my children had to play a part in this ice bucket challenge. And Kayden the #SQLBaby makes an appearance too. … [Read more...]
Third Party Applications and Other Acts of Violence Against Your SQL Server
August 12, 2014 by Leave a Comment
I just got finished reading a great blog post from my buddy, Thomas LaRock (t | b), in which he describes a useful personal policy he used to track changes made to his SQL Servers when installing third-party products. Note that I'm talking about line-of-business applications here - your inventory management systems and help desk ticketing apps. I'm not talking about monitoring and tuning applications since they, by their very nature, need a different sort of access to your back-end server resources. (Full disclosure: both Tom and I currently work for different tools vendors. But we're both … [Read more...]
MacGyver Moments
July 28, 2014 by 6 Comments
In case you haven't heard, your MacGyver Moments are those times when you improvised an excellent solution to a problem using non-traditional materials, techniques, or tools - like the time I repaired my flux capacitor using bailing wire, chewing gum, the tears of Glenn Beck, and the sweat of a master ninja. Necessity is the Mutha of Invention Believe it or not, I've got a long history of doing things MacGyver style. To begin with, I grew up without two nickels to rub together. That means you have to improvise - a lot. Once I hit teenage years, I was constantly tinkering with all … [Read more...]
Anna and the Big Redwoods
May 16, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Last year, I got to take Katie Jo to Manhattan with me when I spoke at the SQL Saturday there. This spring, I got to take Anna Lynn to another of America's great cities, San Francisco. One of the highlights of our trip, and there were many, was a day trip up to Muir Forest for a walk among the redwoods. These beauties are between 200-300 feet tall and so majestic that it steals your breath away and leaves you speachless.Some of the other highlights of our trip included lots of time spent on the piers, Chinatown, Japantown (also known as J-Town), a tour of the city, the Goldengate Bridge, and … [Read more...]
Writing and Delivering a Successful Full-Day Technology Seminar
May 6, 2014 by Leave a Comment
I was recently chatting with the current President of PASS, Thomas LaRock (Twitter | Blog), and Pieter Vanhove (Twitter | Blog), a prominent SQL Server consultant and expert in Belgium, about how I go about building and presenting a full-day technical seminar. In the SQL Server world, we tend to call these "pre-cons", as in pre-conference seminar, because they're typically offered as paid add-ons occurring prior to a full technical conference. We call them that even when they come at the end of the conference and, heck, when there's no conference at all. Kevin and Kendal Van Dyke … [Read more...]
So Many Birthdays and a New Gazebo
May 5, 2014 by Leave a Comment
March and April are the busiest of seasons for birthdays, here at Kline Manor. Ava has the first birthday of the year on March 4. And the April gets real with three more birthdays. Kaylee's birthday is April 22, Savannah's is April 27, and Anna's is April 30. Whew!Pictures to come.In the meantime, here's a quick picture of a new gazebo I put up on the deck. It's reinforced and bolted to the deck, so I hope it'll stand up well to storms and high winds.We've always enjoyed our deck. But without any shade, the deck had a very limited time period where we could use it enjoyably. In fact, even in … [Read more...]
