I have read quite a bit about Vampire energy over the last year, and it seemed like leaving your XBOX, laptop, etc, plugged in was a bad idea. Based on a few things I have read, it seemed that I was losing a few dollars a day from having my… Read more

Well it didn't take long. On a conference call a couple weeks ago, trying to juggle the phone, the laptop, and grabbing a cup of coffee, the phone slipped out of my hand and hit the hardwood floor. I ended up with a crack in the screen, but it hasn't… Read more

If you own a business, I believe that you have a right to make more money than the rest of your employees. You are taking on a risk, and greater risk should result in greater reward, at least that’s how capitalism is supposed to work.

But what about management? Often… Read more

I've been tech editing an encryption book for SQL Server. It's long overdue, and I think it will be a nice addition to any DBA's library. It also addresses a complicated subject that Books Online has inadequately covered. In fact, they've done an incredibly poor job with just documenting encryption,… Read more

We use a lot of power in our computing infrastructure. And while I’m mindful of the concerns over safety, environment, etc., I think nuclear power should be part of the solution moving forward in the US. I can’t speak for other countries, but having worked in a plant here in… Read more

I saw this post on The Business of Software Blog about a use of Twitter to spread the word for a marketing guy. As an aside, I attended the 2008 Business of Software conference and it was outstanding. I’d recommend it to anyone in the software business.

It’s an interview… Read more

After my editorial on portable data centers, I had a number of people knock down the idea, saying it doesn’t make sense for them. I concede that not everyone can take advantage of data centers at a container level, but I’d also note that I think not everyone should be… Read more

Disclaimer: I read and speak one language, having failed pretty well at learning Latin, Spanish, and then Japanese in my schooling. I'm sure there are more than a few people that would actually say I've not doing too well with English, either!

I've got a few examples here of "data… Read more

I worked at a company that had a yearly bonus. Actually I’ve worked at a few companies, but this one in particular set a plan in motion in January of one year. This plan was structured as follows:

• Meet a target of xx revenue for the year
• Achieve a yearly…

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My wife has had a hard week. Actually a few weeks where she's worked a lot of hours, lots of phone calls, computer work, all trying to get a big contract going with a customer. It's been stressful and hard on her, making her question this job a few times. Read more

We got the Prius back yesterday. I dropped Kyle off and he drove it home. Today was my first time to get in it when I took the kids to school. As we were walking out, Kendall told me it smelled “new” again and sure enough when I got in… Read more

That sounds like a very British title, so maybe the Red Gate folks are rubbing off on me. I had to share this, however. Today this is the totality of an email I got in the webmaster inbox:

“

i gud
sri 2le gud
u gud o gud
so leave… Read more

One of my policies is not to answer questions from people about SQL Server in email. That includes emails to me, the webmaster, or in private messages. It’s not that I want to be a jerk, but I have a couple reasons.

1. I’m busy, and if you need custom help,…

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I went to pay for the Prius this morning; it’s finally done!

Front seatbelts (2) - $412

Rear seatbelts (2) - $260

Front door panel - $450

Rear door panel - $660

Add in labor and misc parts, the total was $2148.

Insurance deductable out of my pocket - $500. Read more

I'm a data guy, so it makes sense for me to think about tracking my data here at home. Recently I acquired two new devices, both of which I'll use in my Energy Updates here in the future.

The first was a Kill-a-watt, which is a device for measuring the… Read more

I’ve been managing backups of my video files using USB hard drives for a year, and I’m fed up. I currently have 3 drives, with video, and pictures, spread across all three, none backing each other up, and files off my various machines. To add more hassles, I also have… Read more

A reminder of one of the downsides of working is today: Tax Day. In the US, income tax filing is required, though like the last two years, I’m filing an extension today. We’ve procrastinated the gathering of all our information, and as a result, our return isn’t ready.

Taxes… Read more

I read SQLBatman's post about his first week as an MVP, and it really resonated well with me. I think that he really hit it when he said that he wasn't going to sit around, he was going to go look for information and take things back from the… Read more

I'm embarking on another book project. Not writing this time, but tech editing again. I tech edited a book last year, and that was very interesting and exciting. I learned quite a bit as I tested code and worked on SQL Server 2008's Integrated Full-Text Search.

This time it's a… Read more

For the second year in a row I didn’t purchase opening day Rockies tickets. I had a nice streak of 6 or 7 years, including a couple with my son, of watching the opening day game of each season. This year, for a few reasons, I won’t be going, but… Read more