Last year I wrote about my goals for 2009. Yesterday I looked over them and evaluated my performance. I think it was pretty good, not not perfect. However setting goals that you easily reach every year is probably not the best way to do things. I feel like I’m cheating… Read more

I set goals at the start of 2009 for the year. They were:

Read more

I was contacted recently by someone that was hiring a new employee. They had searched out applicants on the Internet and found that one of them had a blog on my SQLServerCentral site. They sent me a note asking about my interactions with the applicant.

I can’t disclose who… Read more

It's the end of another year, and thus the beginning of the next one. Whether you had a successful 2009 for your career or not, now is the time to set a goal and make a plan for the new year. Take an hour over the next day and think… Read more

It’s been almost 4 weeks without my laptop. I mailed it back to Toshiba and they received it on Dec 4. They then worked on it, and I got a few updates before they shipped it back on Dec 13, which was within their 7-10 business day window. I got… Read more

It’s been almost 4 weeks without my laptop. I mailed it back to Toshiba and they received it on Dec 4. They then worked on it, and I got a few updates before they shipped it back on Dec 13, which was within their 7-10 business day window. I got… Read more

Someone submitted an article recently that walked through how to find the rules in your database, which columns they were bound to, and then how to remove them in order to replace them with Check Constraints. It was interesting because it had been a long time since I’d worked with… Read more

We usually stuff stockings with little things for each other in the family. Sometimes it’s junk, or candy, but this year I tried to be a little better. I aimed for funny and practical, and cheap.

My wife got some wiper blades since her truck needs them. My oldest got… Read more

Just a short Happy Holiday, Merry Christmas wish to everyone out there. Enjoying our White Christmas here in Denver. Read more

Actually we’re not quite like the Denver Zoo, which is open every day of the year. The zoo in Virginia where I grew up closed on Christmas, which is kind of like SQLServerCentral. Some years I’ve sent out a Christmas newsletter, just saying Merry Christmas and wishing everyone a… Read more

Windows 7 just dropped off the network, acting like a cable had been unplugged. I rebooted the machine after trying a few things before finally rebooting the router and then using the Windows troubleshooter to reset my IP configuration.

Very strange and disturbing, especially as I was in the middle… Read more

I noticed a post recently from Bru Medishetty on Striped Backups. I commented, but thought I should explain a little more. There is a problem with striped backups in SQL Server.

They work great, they increase the speed at which you can perform a backup (possibly) and they can… Read more

I realized that I haven’t written enough recently on this blog myself, being occupied with other projects for work. Recently I noticed that a friend, Andy Leonard, had written a few posts on blogging and I wanted to point them out. First he had Blog (Durnit!) , which got some… Read more

Glenn Barry (blog, twitter) posted a note about MySpace using Fusion-IO PCi-E cards to replace hard drives in their systems. It’s an idea that’s been touted and I know there have been SQL people asking about it over the last year or so. There’s a nice case… Read more

I’m not sure it’s true. I don’t think I have iPhone Stockholm Syndrome, as suggested by the article. It’s actually written about mobile operators, not end users, but it does raise some interesting points.

I’ve had a lot of people say that they won’t buy an iPhone because it’s… Read more

There was a post recently where someone was asking about securing log shipping to comply with HIPAA requirements. It struck me at first that really log shipping isn’t a SQL Server operation, it’s a Windows operation. The ongoing process of log shipping is:

• Perform a SQL Server log backup
• File…

Read more

I turned on my netbook for the first time in a few weeks recently. My laptop had died, and I wanted to get some work done upstairs. Plus with my files now on only one machine, I wanted to get things sync’d up on the netbook so I’d have two… Read more

It seems that the SQL community is really growing. There are now quite a few events that you can attend in 2010 to help further your SQL education.  It’s worth the investment to travel a little if any of these are close to you.

And if you’re a speaker, or… Read more

I was checking on the status of my laptop the other day. It died and I shipped it back to Toshiba for repair. I ended up getting this in the status window:

What’s great about this is the last column. I have these dates:

12/02/2009 01:30:00

12/03/2009 21:52:00

12/03/2009… Read more

Each year I attend an annual Christmas party that’s essentially a JD Edwards Operations department party. JD Edwards hasn’t existed for 8 years. Almost everyone has left the company, or what it has become, which is Oracle. Yet we still hold a Christmas party every December that brings together 20-30… Read more