Read more

Read more

In the end, that was what made the difference. I was typing along one night on my spare Acer and the cursor kept jumping. I was getting too close to the touchpad, and it kept picking up my hands, jumping the cursor. I type rapidly, and it kept causing me… Read more

Read more

I finally ordered a new laptop, a Lenovo W510, that caught my eye. I was thinking the T series 510, but once I added a few things it was the same price as the W510, but had 2 fewer cores. Since I do a decent amount of video stuff,… Read more

I had to install WinZip the other day, having the need to unlock a .RAR file. There’s no native support in Windows for those, and I turned to Winzip. I posted a note on Twitter and got suggestions from people for WinRAR and 7-Zip, but this is one of those… Read more

I don’t know if they’re making them cheaper and shoddier or what, but it seems that I’m going through a keyboard or two every year. I used to have one that I’d keep for 2-3 years when I got the big old, heavy duty beige ones. Now these cheaper ones… Read more

The resume that you send out, whether in print or electronically, is the first impression that you will make on a potential employer. For that reason, you want to make a good impression, and that’s one reason that I am trying to get people to manage their brand and present… Read more

So many people wrote posts at the end of 2009 analyzing their goals and what they achieved. I did the same thing, and it was a great exercise. It allowed me to look back at what I’d planned on, and see how well I’d done over the year. I’ve… Read more

Take care of the site, behave, and respect each other.

I'm off for a week in St. Martin, a belated honeymoon with my wife, so I'm not likely to be answering email or watching the site, but everything is in good hands with the rest of the crew at Red… Read more

I was tagged by SQL Rockstar, aka Tom LaRock, after this thread was started by Paul Randal-not-Paul-Tripp (I wonder if Kim disagrees?). It’s an interesting, introspective question. What three things got you going.

I could go with getting a computer early, or something in education, but the truth… Read more

So many people wrote posts at the end of 2009 analyzing their goals and what they achieved. I did the same thing, and it was a great exercise. It allowed me to look back at what I’d planned on, and see how well I’d done over the year. I’ve… Read more

I woke up this morning to find Tia reading an actual paper books. That’s become a rarity for both of us, each of us tending to read on our phones and not with real books.

I reached over and held her hand, just laying there. We do that a lot,… Read more

I read this book as a kid, or at least I thought I did. After grabbing this from Amazon (free for e-reading), I wonder now. I must have read a biography instead because the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is tough to read.

Apparently Mr. Franklin didn’t believe in chapters as… Read more

I woke up this morning to find Tia reading an actual paper books. That’s become a rarity for both of us, each of us tending to read on our phones and not with real books.

I reached over and held her hand, just laying there. We do that a lot,… Read more

My boss gave me an assignment, asking for 200 words on the history of SQLServerCentral. This is what I came up with:

Nine years.

It's been nearly nine years since SQLServerCentral was started with a poor business decision on the part of Database Journal, for whom I still could be… Read more

I used to think that too much data was never a bad thing. That having more information out there is good. However I’m starting to wonder if moderation might be in order here.

I’ve been thinking of getting a spare laptop since Toshiba isn’t too concerned about getting mine fixed.… Read more

The second in the Dexter series, Dearly Devoted Dexter starts out with him stalking in the bushes. It’s a well written description, similar to the others until you realize that he’s playing with kids, Cody and Astor.

This book picks up shortly after the last book, and diverges from the… Read more

Still no work on my laptop. It’s been over 24 hours since I left a message for the customer escalation team and no return call. I haven’t tried to call them back because, well, I’ve been busy. Trying to get things done to get off on vacation next week has… Read more

Still no work on my laptop. It’s been over 24 hours since I left a message for the customer escalation team and no return call. I haven’t tried to call them back because, well, I’ve been busy. Trying to get things done to get off on vacation next week has… Read more