Just a reminder that there are a few seats left for SQL In The City: LA on the 29th of October. It’s a free event put on by Red Gate Software. I’ll be speaking there. But much better than that, you can listen to, and interact with, Steve Jones,… Read more

In my continuing quest to not get personal visits from Buck Woody (blog|twitter) I’m making sure that I make good on my commitment to read 12 personal development books in 12 months. We’re up to #4 (again demonstrating the degree of fear that Buck can put… Read more

I write quite frequently about SQL Server Execution Plans. I started in that area just because that’s how you figure out what a query is doing and sooner or later, we all have to tune a query. I found I was doing it sooner and more frequently. When the… Read more

I’ve been playing a lot with Google+ and the Hangouts there. I love them. I think they’re opening up a whole new way of interacting and building community. Today Andy Leonard (blog|twitter) and Ken Watson (blog|twitter) were trying out the new features in G+, including desktop sharing. We were talking… Read more

I was presenting on execution plans when another question came up that I didn’t know the answer to immediately. Yes, I know you’ve seen that phrase before on this blog. I love presenting because you get exactly the kinds of questions that make you think and make you learn. I’m… Read more

You know I share what feedback I get from conferences. I don’t usually get feedback from users groups (well, I do, but it’s seldom written down and the bruises heal eventually). The St. Louis SQL Server Users Group did collect information. Since I share the other stuff, I may as… Read more

I have to say, I only recently noticed this on a tool tip:

and this in the property sheet:

The bad news is, I noticed them while presenting. The worse news is, I said them out loud and then, inevitably, someone in the audience, I forget who it was, might… Read more

Have to complete my assignment from the Rockstar this month since I’ve missed the last several (he gets all weepy, it’s not pretty). The question this time is to describe your favorite PASS moment… Wow! And this is Tom’s idea of an easy assignment. How do you choose? Lots of… Read more