I hope this isn't real, but I suspect it is.

If this image disappears, I promise not to sue. Read more

I got my results from Karla Remail on the SQLSaturday talk over the weekend. I was surprised since typically other events have taken a few weeks to get results. I am not sure if this is the SQLSaturday platform or Karla’s diligence, but it’s welcome. Quite a few speakers were… Read more

I got quite the mention from Robert Cain over at ArcaneCode in a blog recently. He listed me as a "Big Thinker" along with some pretty amazing company. Kim Tripp, Paul Randal, Alan Stevens, and others that are prominent in the tech community. I'm sure more are coming,… Read more

One of the interesting things about Transparent Data Encryption is that it tries to ensure that your data, whenever it is written to disk, is protected. That means that in addition to your data files (mdf, ndf), the log file is also encrypted.

Does this mean you need to enable… Read more

I'm done with SQLSaturday #14, actually stuck in Pensacola for an extra night, but that's another story.

It was a great event, and I have to say I was very surprised at the number and variety of speakers that came to contribute to the event. Karla Remail and Rodney Landrum… Read more

You have a default server instance for SQL Server, you think that your database files grew last night, and you want to track things down. What do you do?

It’s not in the logs, or metadata, but when listening to the DBA SIG webcast recently from Jonathan Kehayias on the… Read more

I’ve been Twittering about some of these, but I thought I’d condense a few for some fun today. First, a warning.

DO NOT CLICK ANY LINKS

from this blog. Actually I’ll just remove them, but highlight them for your review.

It seems over the last year that I get less… Read more

I leave this afternoon for Pensacola and SQLSaturday #14. My daughter is traveling with me, for a short vacation with Dad. She's presented with me 2 other times locally and isn't embarrassed, often helping me flip slides up on stage. We'll see how it goes since I've gotten used to… Read more

We’re getting closer. Coda is planning on selling a 4 door sedan in CA next year for $45k ($10k tax credit available). With a 90-100 mile range, that’s getting close to the point where someone might be able to use this regularly.

I wonder what the range is if I… Read more

I'm happy to announce that SQLServerCentral is sponsoring a track at this year's SQL Connections conference in Las Vegas, Nov 9-12, 2009. We're supplying the speakers, and picking the topics. If all goes well, we should be continuing this for future SQL Connections conferences.

You can see the sessions in… Read more

Do you know what a Geoid is?

I’ve been working my way through Beginning Spatial with SQL Server 2008, actually “through” is an overstatement. I’ve been working through chapter 1, which is full of a lot of theory about spatial data and coordinate systems.

The book talks about the… Read more

The USB not in Hyper-V thing is annoying. It actually made me stop and consider my alternatives for a desktop. I have 8GB and want to use it, so I'm going 64-bit. The question is which OS. As I see it, I have a few choices:

• Vista 64 and VM…

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A hash is a computation that transforms one set of data into another (hopefully smaller) set of data. So a hash on your 2,000 character blog post should generate a smaller, 10-20 byte value. In doing that, obviously there are many more possible 2,000 character sets of data then there… Read more