Hopefully you saw it in the special mailing that went out yesterday, but the marketing team just released a new contest for referring registrations to the 2009 Summit – see all the details here. If you’re able to convince a friend or colleague to go might as well have… Read more

We’re closing in on our October 17th SQLSaturday #21 in Orlando and I thought I’d share a few things about the event this year:

• 54 hour sessions plus 5 five mini (15 min) sessions – our biggest schedule ever
• Fund raising has been much more difficult than in previous years.…

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I’ve had the glimmer of this idea since I posted about the idea of bringing my chair to the 2009 PASS Summit. I’ve got a few other interests besides SQL Server, and so does everyone else. Probably more than a few of the attendees have a hobby that includes… Read more

I’m late announcing this here, but I’m pleased to announce my friend Jack Corbett is joining me in leading oPASS (the Orlando SQL Group). Part of that is Jack being kind enough to pitch in knowing that I’m spread thin, but a bigger part is that he’s been steadily getting… Read more

It’s probably a key stereotype of our business that the sales team doesn’t really get along with those in operations/production. Sales teams seem to insist on selling features and timelines without asking if it’s even close to possible, and operations wants to solve problems elegantly without regard to the realities… Read more

I saw this post by Neil Davidson about sales people being different that discusses how sales people are compensated and why he is moving to a salary model instead of commission. I’ve never been a sales person, but I’ve had the interesting time of working with them at a mid… Read more

My friend Smitha sent me this link about fishbowl conversations as something that might make sense to add to the PASS Summit or other events. The concept is that you arrange chairs in a circle with a panel of participants and the moderator guides the discussion. The audience sits outside… Read more

Ran across The Inner Game of Stress: Outsmart Life's Challenges and Fulfill Your Potential ($16 @ Amazon) at the the library, was feeling stressed so thought I’d read it. Was a mixed bag for me, some of it made sense, some of it I had a hard time with –… Read more

Back in July we had Chad Miller visit oPASS to do a presentation on Powershell. It was well received and kudos to Chad for a nice presentation and taking the time to drive up from Tampa. Going in to the presentation I would say my view of Powershell was interesting,… Read more

Lately I’ve been thinking that I need to try harder to focus on doing the things I both want to do and have to do, achieve a better balance than I have this year. One of my favorite things to do is speak/attend community events. It’s good practice for my… Read more

Since the beginning of the year I’ve been trying to include a SQL related book in the bi-weekly Connector. Basically I hit Amazon and search for SQL Server, look for a book that has been recently published (and is shipping!), then try to make sure I’m alternating publishers so what… Read more

I currently write the editorial for the PASS Connector which is published every two weeks as part of my role on the Board of Directors. I'm cross posting those editorials here as well as to the main PASS blog.

It’s the busy time of year here at PASS. We… Read more

I’ve written here and there about my attempts at time management and the idea that as you spin more and more plate, it’s easy to guess wrong about whether you can really spin one more or note. Lately I’ve had the almost perfect storm of distractions hit at once; family,… Read more

Just received a note from Dave Noderer that the 2010 South Fla Code Camp will be February 13th in Mirarmar, FL. It’s a long drive for me, just over 3 hours, but worth the trip due to the size (typically 500+ attendees) and the sheer variety of sessions. I’ll post… Read more

My friend Kevin had sent this to me after I wrote The Boss Is Always Right but before it was released here on the blog, and it’s an interesting and deeper look at the IT specifics of some of what goes into the boss being right or wrong. Little different… Read more

Last week I posted Part 1 and Steve Jones gave some grief about not posting some pictures (rightfully so) of the pile of plywood, so this week we have some pictures. But first, some commentary!

The next evening I had some time I finished up the footstool, you can see… Read more

Bet you’re ready to disagree, right? I’ve had this on my list to write about for a while. One trend I see in business is a tendency for subordinates (often managers themselves) to ignore or actually try to undermine the agenda of a person higher up the corporate ladder.

In… Read more

Simon is a prolific blogger, at rough look averaging 10-15 posts per month, and almost all of them are SQL, and not trivial posts either. He’s also the organizer of SQLBits in the UK – go visit the site, very nicely done. Definitely a guy you want to meet and/or… Read more

I ran across this article about networking sins a while back and have had it on my list to share. I think it’s an ok list, but based on what I see with networking on LinkedIn (my current tool of choice) I don’t see much abuse. The biggest thing that… Read more

In the next week or so I’ll be upgrading the SQL 2005 server that has the SQLSaturday database and I’m looking forward to giving the filestream a workout. For those of you new to the issue for years we’ve had the choice of either storing files in the file system… Read more