I fly to the UK tomorrow, not really my favorite thing to do, so I’m trying to ensure I can make the trip as painless as possible. I want to keep busy, distract myself, and not feel trapped on the plane with nothing to do as I make my way… Read more

I have tried hard to google a SQL query to find what objects exist in a specific filegroup, but in the end, I am not satisified with my findings.

I know there is an undocumented SP called sp_ObjectFileGroup, but I do not know how useful this is. My issue is… Read more

We all have those things that happen at work that somehow turn into something other than expected, and sometimes in quite humorous fashion. I've got a few to share over the next couple months, but had to start with this one!

Several years ago the company I worked for issued… Read more

Apress sent me a free review copy, so I took a quick look through it at lunch. I've used full text a few times and know the basics, but I'm far from being a power user. The first chapter seemed kind of dense, more about the internal process than I… Read more

The 2009 devLINK Technical Conference will be held in Nashville, TN, August 13-15, 2009. This three-day conference provides technical content for DBAs, Solution Developers, Solution Architects, Project Managers, Business Analysis, Technology Executive, and IT Professionals.

Registration for the event begins April 1, 2009, and the entire three-day event costs only… Read more

I was browsing through the new titles that are on Safari and saw some planning guides around Windows Server 2008 (Active Directory Services, File Services, etc.). Of course, all of these are published as solution accelerators, because they are designed to assist IT professionals understand, plan, and implement solutions quicker… Read more

It is strange how people react in different circumstances. Yesterday while going through the forums, there was an interesting post. As usual I jumped in and gave my two cents. Since it was an interesting issue quite a few of the Old hands too jumped into the fray giving opnions.… Read more

Yesterday I participated in my first BI SIG live meeting.  This special interest group is led by Amy Lewis who did a great job yesterday setting the agenda for the new year. 

I think she had a great idea of starting BI SIG "Focus Groups”, which will focus on the… Read more

If not, you should. Because autoplay being on means any time a removable data device, such as a USB stick, is inserted into the computer, autoplay fires up. Typically this is usually taken advantage of by CDs/DVDs to get us to a start menu. However, attackers are now writing worms… Read more

It seems like the benefits of being involved in PASS just never stopped.  If you didn’t see the PASS newsletter sent out yesterday or the PASS website then you don’t know I won a laptop for creating a PASSPort profile. 

It all happened rather fast.  I got an email… Read more

Over the last six months or so, Pepsi has been running a PepsiStuff promotion on many of their products. They had codes printed inside bottle caps, packaging, etc, that you could enter at their PepsiStuff.com website. Each code was worth a point or two and you could trade in your… Read more

It's been about two weeks since I posted PASS Update #1, so time for another update on my activities as a member of the PASS Board of Directors. It's been a quiet but interesting couple weeks. The first thing I worked on was an early draft of what I… Read more

If you couldn’t make it to the 2008 PASS Community Summit in Seattle, WA last fall, perhaps you can attend the European PASS Conference to be held in Neuss, Germany from April 22-24, 2009.

The event includes full-day pre-conferences, technical sessions, with tracks for DBAs, Application Developers, and BI specialists. Read more

There was a time that I really felt I would be more productive with two monitors. I think I found myself flipping between two windows a lot, so I made the decision to buy a 2nd monitor, got a second video card, and set myself up with dual displays. It… Read more

One of my goals for the year is to update my blog roll some and try to recognize new/interesting bloggers. Part of that is just good karma, part is that discovery still remains the hard part - how do you/I know what we're missing?

Anyway, first up is John Magnabosco Read more

SQLBits is the largest free SQL Server conference in Europe, and will include 20 hours of SQL Server sessions to select from.

The event is limited to 250 people, and registration for this event opens February 2, 2009, so be sure to register early in order to reserve your spot. Read more

If you live in the Colorado area, you might want to attend the upcoming, free Rocky Mountain Tech Tri-Fecta event, which will be held Saturday, February 21, 2009. Organized by local .NET, PASS, and Windows Server user groups, it will include over 60 sessions for developers, DBAs and Windows administrators. Read more

I have been thinking of writting a blog for the past 6 months but never had time or could I make time. Today I thought I would write one. And what a day it has turned out to be.

Morning was a simple and quite day. I had hoped it… Read more

Last night, Steve Jones, 41, was preparing a pot of brown rice. After feeling all, he was making a bland bowl of rice to get some nourishment and try not to upset his stomach anymore. Placing a pot on the stove to boil, he returned to finishing up some work… Read more

I'm a technology guy, but one lesson I've learned is that not all solutions can be solved by throwing technology at it. For example, try classifying a first name as male or female. Quite a few are pretty clear, but there are enough that aren't to make it something that… Read more