Friday I was up early for breakfast and check out of the hotel, then down to the convention center to find a good place to sit to work through morning email and just relax before the final keynote. I think I was finally adjusted to the travel  & time change… Read more

Session evaluations are one real benefit that speakers derive from participating in community events - a chance to see how they did and maybe even get some ideas on how to improve. The challenge is that most attendees only tend to fill out the eval if the session was really… Read more

I got back Friday afternoon from the PASS Summit and immediately was busy with family stuff. In fact, through Saturday night I was spending time with the family and running around. It wasn't until today that I had a chance to relax.

And I did so, avoiding chores and things… Read more

I arrived home this morning after another PASS Summit. This is my 6th in a row. Each year I have more fun, get more excited about SQL Server and meet more people.

This year had a different dimension. I had additional options because of being an MVP. There were MVP sessions as well… Read more

I broke down and bought my first Vista machine last Sunday, an HP Pavilion from a local box store.  From the outset I was underwhelmed by the performance of this system (a 64 bit system with 4gb of RAM), which should have been screaming but wasn't quite.  My 3 year… Read more

I couldn't muster the enthusiasm for a keynote today, so I went for a walk, stopping first for a doughnut at Top Pot because it was highly recommended by my friend Chris Rock, and then down to the Pike Place Market to wander some, and then to Starbucks #1 for… Read more

Shortly after I gave my presentation Trigger Happy Database Security down in Jacksonville for SQL Saturday #3, I received an email asking how to recover from a bad logon trigger that was blocking access to a SQL Server. The answer is to use the DAC, as I describe here: Read more

He's the manager for BI, the General Manager, and he's here to talk about the challenge and promise of Pervasive Business Intelligence.

We're the best community? I hear that at every conference and it sounds disingenuous when I do. But it works because most people attend one or no conferences… Read more

The morning keynote opening was good. We had video of the conference playing here and there, the election candidate positions in video, and random facts about SQL Server.

Don't forget to vote! My endorsements for Andy, Louis, and Thomas. Vote for them.

There are daily prizes, they announced through drawings,… Read more

The first day of the PASS Summit in 2008 is done, but I have to say that I missed quite a bit of it. After the keynote, I slept in the lobby for about an hour as Andy Warren and Chris Rock snickered and made humorous comments from the adjacent… Read more

Went to the intro and keynote yesterday, even though I know better. They weren't bad, they just weren't great. I think most people would have been happier with a much shorter start up and get into sessions earlier. Thoughts on keynotes that they might consider for next time:

• Excitement is…

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I've been hanging around the SQL PASS Summit this week and came to a realization, I do know something...

I don't know it all, but I don't know nothing, I'm definitely somewhere in between. So, I hope to share these thoughts and hopefully help out people in similar ways as…

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It’s been a great week at PASS thus far and many others have written on their experiences so I’ll do the same.  The whole experience has been a very overwhelming because this is not only my first PASS Summit but I am also here as a speaker.  I’ve been to… Read more

It was really Andy Warren's presentation, but he usually ropes me in to add a different perspective on the various things he talks about. Over the years I've joined in on other sessions, though this time I didn't have a lot to say. I was beat and so I let… Read more

A film clip opening from MS, quotes and short sound bites from a variety of people from he SQL Server team and some shots of past conferences.

Ted is the corporate VP in charge of the Data and Storage Platform Division, which includes SQL Server 2008. Last year we were… Read more

 With the dimming of lights, the drone of "Born to be Wild" from Steppenwolf, and an opening film slip of motorocycles, the PASS Summit kicked off the first keynote. The lights came on the center stage to reveal PASS President, Wayne Snyder, sitting astride a motorcycle at center stage. It's… Read more

I spent most of yesterday in the PASS volunteer training. It's not really training, more of a gathering of volunteers to hear about what's been going on and to present awards to the best of the volunteers. Kevin Kline did a nice (if a little long) history of PASS, talking… Read more

I got the email with a Zoomerang survey to vote for the PASS board. All are excellent candidates, but ultimately, I could only vote for 3. My choices look like I'm stealing from Steve Jones, but I'm not. I voted for 3, but the 3rd choice were really hard.… Read more

There are so many people that I see once a year at the PASS Summit, and I saw a few last night, but today I really began running into more people from years past. The Summit is an annual trip for many DBAs that are professionals outside of their normal… Read more

 How many mirrrored databases can I have on a server?

10 mirrored databases per server is the recommendation for a 32 bit computer WITH 4 processors or less. 64 bit computers have twice as many threads which means, in theory, that you can have twice as many mirrored databases.… Read more