Hopefully you’ve heard by now that PASS is launching a new event format called SQLRally in May 2011 in Orlando. It will be a two day conference, preceded by one day of seminars. Because it’s a new format, we can – if we choose – build a new process for… Read more

Prior to creating SQLRally the world of PASS consisted of the PASS Summit which is our annual mega-event, the European Summit, SQLSaturday, chapter meetings, and the occasional launch event. With all that going on, did we need another brand? What market void does it fill? And how is it… Read more

I’ll be doing an introductory level presentation on statistics for the Performance VC on September 7th, details and the LiveMeeting URL at http://performance.sqlpass.org/). For those of you who have been tuning for a while you’re not likely to learn a lot of new stuff, really focused on those new… Read more

Our most recent board meeting was in Nashville on Aug 19, 20. We had originally discussed meeting in Seattle/Redmond/Vancouver, but by the time we scheduled the August meeting a few of us had already committed to attending the SQLSaturday in Nashville, so it just made sense to have it there.… Read more

This was written for something fun on a Friday, but it’s still interesting for coffee talk anytime – what superhero would you be if you could? Saw a few votes for Batman, a couple for the Flash, and a few more unusual ones – read the comments on the original… Read more

Ran across this in my weekly browsing, Formufit sells furniture grade PVC. I think I’m not quite clear on the difference between that and regular PVC pipe yet, but what I do see in their catalog is a lot of nice pieces you won’t find at Lowes – a cap… Read more

I’m leaving later today for the not too bad drive to Jacksonville for the sixth annual Code Camp. I’ve got one presentation on the schedule (statistics) and I see a whole track on BI, plus one on complex events and another on reporting services. It’s also a mini vacation,… Read more

There are a lot of times when the decision matters less than who makes it. A common if simplified example is a code review; whoever ‘wins’ the review gets to feel some ownership, and all too often the win is style rather than substance. I see it in managers a… Read more

I picked up The Secret Service: The Hidden History of an Engimatic Agency $13 @ Amazon) from the library, had been hoping to find In the President’s Secret Service: Behind the Scenes with Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect. Interesting read in some places,… Read more

Funny how if take time for longer conversations, ones that ramble, you often learn interesting things that you just wouldn’t learn any other way. My friend Don was in town for SQLSaturday #40 a few weeks back and we were talking about blogging. An interesting conversation because Don is a… Read more

We started the event with a speaker/volunteer dinner at the home of Kevin Kline (former PASS President, current MVP,and all around good guy). Aside it being a looong way out from downtown Nashville, it was a great evening, people inside and outside, burgers, bbq, and all the sides, and even… Read more

In 2009 we had a contentious election cycle at PASS, and I won’t go through the details again, but because of that I saw two things; we needed greater transparency, and for what I feel was the first time the SQL community took on the task of vetting and discussing… Read more

I’ll actually be going up a couple days early for a PASS Board meeting, then shifting to speaker/attendee mode Friday night for SQLSaturday #51. Lots of old friends on the schedule, looking forward to catching up and it will also be my first trip to Nashville. If you’re attending… Read more

I found Career Warfare: 10 Rules for Building a Successful Personal Brand on the Business Battlefield by David D’Alessandro ($12@ Amazon) in the audio section at the library, one of those happy occurrences when I’m looking with no particular item in mind, just something interesting to listen to while I… Read more

I’m flying to Nashville today for the Board meeting on August 19 and 20, 2010. I had already planned to attend the SQLSaturday in Nashville, so for once the schedule aligned nicely. I’m hoping that is something we can do more of, good for the Board to be in town… Read more

I’ve been managing oPASS since we re-hydrated it back in early 2007. Seems like a long time ago! We’ve made some progress and the group is stable, just not growing as much as I had hoped. That could be us, could be the region, hard to know. Jack Corbett joined… Read more

Had my final follow up call with Don Gabor, took one more run through the networking and speaker stuff (Don went to SQLSaturday #40). Might have some repeats from earlier posts, trying to capture and burn into my brain at least.

• Less than 50% of attendees had business cards.…

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I wrote the value of blogging hoping to highlight the less often discussed value of practicing writing. Too often we look at blogs solely as a branding tool, or as a way to make money, or to get a zillion hits. Nothing wrong with any of those and I wouldn’t… Read more

I get a fair amount of email in a week; stuff about work, stuff for oPASS, stuff for PASS, stuff for SQLSaturday, various newsletters (technical and other), and a few that fall into miscellaneous – a link to an interesting blog post, an invite to lunch, etc. Lately I’ve… Read more

Passing along this contest from Idera and MSSQLTips. I don’t do many plugs, but it’s a chance for someone to go to the PASS Summit that otherwise would not – and that is a good thing!

http://www.mssqltips.com/pass_giveaway_entry.asp

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