I'm somewhat conservative with my machines. These days it's a tool for me, and I'm not looking for the coolest thing, I'm looking for something that works.

I started running Windows 7 RC a few months ago when some friends had gotten it working pretty well on their machines with… Read more

I was up this morning, starting to work on my desktop. I rebuilt it yesterday, or started, with Windows 7 RTM (from Windows 7 RC) and wanted to get it done. I had a couple items for work to finish as well, so I was looking over them when I… Read more

I've been running the Windows 7 RC for a few months, and overall I like it. Many things work well, despite a few ergonomic issues. It's quick, though I'm sure my 8GB desktop helps. However there are some flaky items and I'm not sure if they are Windows 7 RC… Read more

I had my third monitor die recently and have been using just the 2 on my desk. However one of them is a little smaller, and so I've been struggling to see it off to the side of my desk. I'd really like to get a larger one, mostly because… Read more

I attended a presentation recently from Steven Wright of SQL Sentry on Analysis Services (SSAS) memory management and it was really interesting. I haven't done much work at all with SSAS, mostly goofing around with basic cube setups, so I haven't really had to administer a production instance. And I… Read more

I've got a new presentation on blogging slated for next week during the 24 hours of PASS. The event is a series of presentations, 24 in all, on Sept 2-3, running continuously from people all around the world.

I'm scheduled for the 10am MST, which is 5pm GMT, which… Read more

A few simple tips that I've learned over the years. Keep these in mind as you write your next article.

That and Which - It's amazing how often I correct this in writing, and it was something I learned early on. If you use "that" in a sentence, you don't… Read more

Well I feel a little strange making an announcement about this since I'm not running. A number of people have asked me to run, and I considered it, but I can't this year. Or at least I'm not willing to right now. I'll give you a few thoughts on the… Read more

I'm committed to SQLSaturday #23 in Louisville on October 24, 2009. I got a note the other day from the organizer and today I sent back my session. I'd been waiting to hear from Red Gate that it was OK to go and commit, and I did last week.

I… Read more

Well, a little silly at least. I wrote yesterday about winning a gift certificate to ThinkGeek, and wondering what to spend it on. The pocket knife was tempting, but we have a few multi-tools, and honestly I'd probably rarely carry it. Not necessarily a habit for me. So… Read more

I attended the Denver SQL Server User Group meeting, wanting to get a chance to catch up with some friends in from out of town. Peter Shire and Steve Wright of SQL Sentry were in town this week to present at the three local groups (Boulder, Colorado Springs, Denver) and… Read more

Ever since my Kindle broke, I've been reading on my iTouch for the most part. I've been using both the Kindle iPhone app and the Barnes and Noble app and while they are different (Kindle notes, BN notes) , they both have a few quirks and I… Read more

We have a thread in our forums that many of the participants refer to as "The THREAD." It's a long running thread that started with a simple question: Are the posted questions getting worse?" What was initially a rant about how many of the volunteers on the site… Read more

I won $25 from Thinkgeek via Intel from a twitter contest. Can you follow that? I posted a question for @IntelSoftware, they liked it, and sent me a gift certificate. Pretty cool, and so I browsed over there today to look at what might be interesting.

I'm not worried… Read more

It seems that I see posts like this one more often than I'd like. Or at least some variation on autogrowth issues or sizing problems. Here's another one where someone apparently doesn't realize that you want to keep fre space in your database files. There's actually a simple solution, but… Read more

I added a new blogger to my list. I was surfing around for a few good examples to use in my upcoming presentation for the 24 hours of PASS and stumbled upon Barry Young's blog, Moving SQL. Since one of my goals for this year was to regularly update… Read more

In my Modern Resume presentation I have a few slides on blogging, a couple of which are hints and tips on "how to blog." The second one starts out like this:

• Don't copy other posts
• Don't copy other posts
• Don't copy other posts

I know that repeating something three times… Read more

I read Jack Corbett's blog entry,No Training Budget Still No Excuse, last week and thought it was excellent. In fact, I plan on putting it out again on Twitter again today.It was that good to me, and I thought it was short, to the point and had good… Read more

Both my wife and I work from home, and we've done it for years. I've been working full time for SQLServerCentral for about 7 years now and my wife has worked for a few companies as a telecomutter for over 14 years. I don't know how she does it, but… Read more

I guess I did a good job, with all 3s and 4s in my eval (meaning good and great) for the presentation. That was good as I struggled with a projector that cut off my slides (something to be aware of for next time.

In terms of the presentation, here… Read more